Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Fotigal da Japan sun fara alaƙarsu ta farko a cikin 1543, lokacin da Fotigal ya zama Turawan farko da suka isa Japan ta hanyar sauka a kudancin tsibirin. 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 da mika wuya na Japan
a ranar 15 ga watan Agusta, 1945, bayan harin bam din nukiliya a Hiroshima da Nagasaki da kuma mamayewar Soviet na Manchuria.