Kammala jumlar da ke gaba: Fotigal da Japan sun fara haɗin kansu na farko a cikin 1543, lokacin da Fotigal ya zama Turawa na farko da suka isa Japan ta hanyar sauka a tsibirin kudancin. Suna da tasiri sosai a kan Japan, har ma a cikin wannan iyakancewar hulɗar farko, gabatar da bindigogi zuwa yaƙin Japan. Tawagar Perry ta Amurka a cikin 1853 <unk> 54 ta kawo ƙarshen keɓewar Japan gaba ɗaya; wannan ya ba da gudummawa ga faduwar shogunate da dawo da iko ga sarki a lokacin Yaƙin Boshin a 1868. Sabuwar shugabancin kasa na zamanin Meiji na gaba ya canza tsibirin tsibirin da ke kewaye da shi zuwa wani daular da ke bin tsarin Yammacin Turai kuma ya zama babban iko. Kodayake dimokiradiyya ta haɓaka kuma al'adun farar hula na zamani sun bunƙasa a lokacin Taishō (1912<unk>26), sojojin Japan masu ƙarfi suna da ikon cin gashin kansu kuma sun yi watsi da shugabannin farar hula na Japan a cikin 1920s da 1930s. Sojojin Japan sun mamaye Manchuria a 1931, kuma daga 1937 rikicin ya yi tsauri zuwa yaƙi mai tsawo da China. Harin da Japan ta kai wa Pearl Harbor a 1941 ya kai ga yaƙi da Amurka da kawayenta. Sojojin Japan ba da daɗewa ba suka zama masu yawa, amma sojoji sun ci gaba duk da hare-haren iska na Allied wanda ya haifar da mummunar lalacewar cibiyoyin jama'a. Sarkin sarakuna Hirohito ya sanar
Japan ta mika wuya a ranar 15 ga Agusta, 1945, bayan bama-baman nukiliya na Hiroshima da Nagasaki da mamayewar Soviet na Manchuria.