Timeline

Year	Japan	Asia	World
1600	Battle of Sekigahara. Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats a coalition of daimyo and establishes hegemony over most of Japan		British and Dutch East India companies founded
1603	Tokugawa Ieyasu granted title of shogun
1605	Tokugawa Ieyasu resigns as shogun, and is succeeded by his son Hidetada
1607		Korean Yi Dynasty sends an embassy to Japan	Jamestown settlement begin in America
1609	Dutch trade begins with the establishment of a trading post in Hirado
1611	Ryukyu Islands become a vassal state of Satsuma domain
1612	Shogunate issues directives aimed at restricting Christianity
1615	Battle of Osaka. Tokugawa Ieyasy seiges Osaka Castle, all opposition from forces loyal to the Toyotomi family. Tokugawa authority becomes paramount throughout Japan
1616	Tokugawa Ieyasu dies		William Shakespere dies
	European trade limited to ports of Hirado and Nagasaki
1620			The Mayflower lands in New Plymouth, Massachusetts
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1623	Tokugawa Iemitsu becomes the third shogun
1624	English factory at Hirado closes. Spanish ships are prohibited from calling at Japanese ports;
	Persecution of Christians intensifies
1629			Colony of Massachusetts founded
1635	Tokugawa Iemitsu formalizes the system of mandatory alternate residence ("sankin kotai") in Edo
1636	Buildings on the artificial island of Dejima at Nagasaki are completed	Dutch settle in Ceylon	Harvard University established
1637	Shimabara Uprising (1637-38) mounted by overtaxed peasants		First printing press established in America
1639	Edicts establishing National Seclusion (Sakoku Rei) are completed. All Westerners except the Dutch are prohibited from entering Japan
1642			English Civil War begins
1644		Manchu Dynasty begins in China
1657	Meireki fire kills more than 100,000 people in Edo
1660			Restoration of monarchy in England
1661			Louis XIV assumes power in France
1681			First street (oil) lamps appear in London
1683		Dutch traders are admitted to Canton, China
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1688	Beginning of the Genroku era (1688-1704), a time of cultural flowering known in the theatrical art of kabuki and bunraku
1702			War of Spanish Succession begins (continues to 1713)
1703	Forty-Seven Ronin Incident
1707			Act of Union unites England and Scotland
1720		Tibet becomes a Chinese protectorate	Spain occupies Texas (until 1722)
1773			Boston Tea Party
1774	The anatomical text Kaitai shinsho, the first complete Japanese translation of a Western medical work, is published by Sugita Gempaku and Maeno Ryotaku
1775			American War of Independence begins (to 1783)
1787	Matsudaira Sadanobu becomes senior shogunal councillor (roju) and institutes the Kansei Reforms
1788		British settlement of Australia begins
1789	Shogunate issues debt moratorium (kienrei) to save retainers from destitution		French Revolution
			U.S. Post Office established
1792	Adam Erikovich Laxman arrives at Nemuro in eastern Ezo (now Hokkaido).		Denmark becomes the first country to abolish the slave trade
1794			Slavery abolished in French colonies
1799	Shogunate gains administrative control over the southern part of Ezo
1803			Louisiana Purchase
1804	Russian envoy Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov reaches Nagasaki, and unsuccessfully seeks the establishment of trade relations with Japan		Napoleon crowns himself Emperor of France
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1806			Official end of the Holy Roman Empire
1808	Phaeton Incident: British warship Phaeton enters Nagasaki Harbor and exacerbates fears of Western encroachment
1823			United States Monroe Doctrine
1825	Shogunate issues the Order for the Repelling of Foreign Ships
1833	Tempo Famine		Slavery abolished in the British Empire
1837	Rebellion of Oshio Heihachiro
	Morrison Incident: U.S. merchant ship carrying Japanese castaways is fired upon as it attempts to enter Uraga Bay near Edo (now Tokyo) and Kagoshima Bay in Kyushu
1839		Opium War (1839-1842)
1841	Tempo Reforms	Great Britain claims sovereignty over Hong Kong
	Nakahama Manjiro, a fisherman shipwrecked on a Pacific island, is rescued by an American whaler and taken to the United States	New Zeland becomes a British colony
1844	Dutch warship arrives in Nagasaki with a letter from the king of the Netherlands advising the shogunate to open the country to Western trade	U.S. and China sign Treaty of Peace, Amity, and Commerce
1846	Shogunate and domains give greater attention to coastal defenses as foreign ships and whaling vessels enter Japanese territorial waters		Mexican War begins (to 1848)
1848			Gold discovered in California
1850		Taiping Rebellion breaks out in China (1850-64)	California joins the Union
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1853	Four warships of the US East India Squadron, commanded by Commodore Matthew Perry, enter Uraga Bay
1854	Treaty of Peace and Amity between the United States and the Empire of Japan (Kanagawa Treaty) signed; similar treaties concluded with Great Britain (1854), Russia (1855), and the Netherlands (1856)
1855	Ansei earthquake kills more than 5000 people in Edo
1856	US Consul General Townsend Harris arrives at Shimoda to initiate trade negotiations with the shogunate
	Yoshida Shoin teaches imperial loyalist philosophy to young samurai in Choshu domain
1858	Ansei commercial treaties are concluded between the Shogunate and the United States, the Netherlands, Russia, Great Britain, and France	Treaty of Tientsin concludes Anglo-Chinese War (1856-58)
	Ii Naosuke becomes senior adviser (tairo) to the shogun, and initiates the Ansei Purge of his political enemies	Government of India Act formally transfer control over India to the British Crown
1859	British merchant Thomas Blake Glover arrives in Japan and supplies military arms to the domains of Satsuma and Choshu	French forces occupy Saigon	Construction of the Suez Canal begins (continues until 1869)
1860	Ii Naosuke assassinated
	Shogunal mission departs for the United States
1861			Unification of Italy
1862	Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi marries Princess Kazu, sister of Emperor Komei in an attempt to ease the mounting tension between the Shogunate and the Imperial Court (kobugattai movement)		United States Civil War
	Shogunate rescinds the system of mandatory alternate attendance
1863	British warships attack the Satsuma domain in retaliation for the murder by Satsuma retainers of an Englishman the previous year	Cambodia is made a protectorate of France	Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address
1864	Pro-imperial and Pro-shogunal forces clash in Mito domain
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1866	Shogunal army engages forces of Choshu domain in the second of the Choshu Expeditions; the Shogunate's failure to bring the campaign to a successful conclusion severely damages its prestige		Prussia defeats Austria in the Six Weeks War
	Satsuma and Choshu form a secret alliance against the shogunate
1867	The last shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu returns political authority to Mutsuhito (Emperor Meiji) who changes the name of the era to Meiji (or enlightened rule)		Russia sells Alaska to the U.S. for $7.2 million
1868	Restoration of Imperial rule (Osei Fukko) declared	U.S. President Andrew Johnson is impeached for violating the the Tenure-of-Office Act, and is acquitted by the Senate
	Fragmented Tokugawa forces and dissident domains lodge the Boshin War
	Emperor Meiji moves from Kyoto to Edo, now named Tokyo, or Eastern Capital
1869	Daimyo return domain lands and population registers to the Emperor. Domains are designated public land with uniform procedures for tax collection. Daimyo are appointed as local governors and receive government stipends		United States trans-continental railroad completed
	Samurai divided into two ranks: a) shizoku; b) sotsu, and their stipends are reduced
	Ezo is renamed Hokkaido
1870	Commoners (heimin) are permitted to assume surnames		Franco-Prussian War (1870-71)
	Telegraph line links Tokyo and Yokohama, postal service is established a year later
1871	Domains converted to Prefectures (72 prefectures, later reduced to 46). Daimyo (formerly domain governors) moved to Tokyo. Prefectural governors appointed by the central government		Germany is unified
	Samurai are permitted to cut their topknots and cast off their swords; samurai and aristocrats are permitted to marry commoners; the designations eta and hinin, assigned to the lowest social classes are abolished
	First Japanese-language daily newspaper, Yokohama Mainichi Shimbun, begins publication
1871-73	Iwakura mission departs Japan on an 18-month tour to study the social systems of the United States and European nations
1872	Universal compulsory elementary education established
	Army and Navy ministries established
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1873	Gregorian calendar adopted
	Conscription Ordinance instituted: 3 years active, 4 years reserve service for men. However, the system includes loopholes: a) ¥270 payment; b)exemption for government officials, students, household heads, physicians and physically disabled
	Samurai stipend taxed; converted to government bonds in 1876
	Home Ministry established
	Seikanron debates divides new Meiji government
1874	Taiwan Expedition. Japan gains recognition of its claim to the Ryukyu Islands		Great Britain annexes the Fiji Islands
	Meirokusha Society founded
	Itagaki Taisuke submits the Tosa Memorial calling for the establishment of an elected national assembly
1874-77	Samurai protest movements: Saga Rebellion (1874); Shimpuren (1876); Akizuki (1876); Hagi Rebellion (1876); Satsuma Rebellion (1877)
1875	Japan signs the Treaty of St. Petersburg with Russia: Japan claims Kurile Islands and relinquishes Sakhalin Islands to Russia		William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan produce their first operetta
1876	Treaty of Kangwa: Japan gains extra-territorial rights in Korea	Korea gains independence
1878	Home Minister Okubo Toshimichi assassinated by disaffected former samurai of Satsuma		Paris World Exhibition
	Prefectural assemblies established
1879	Ryukyu Islands incorporated into Japan and becomes Okinawa prefecture
1881	Jiyuto (Liberal Party) formed by Itagaki Taisuke
1881-85	Matsukata Deflation
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1882	Kaishinto (Progessive Party) formed by Okuma Shigenobu	Korea and the U.S. establish formal diplomatic relations	Great Britain occupies Cairo
1883-85		Sino-French War; China recognizes Vietnam as a protectorate of France
1885	Cabinet system adopted with Ito Hirobumi as the first Prime Minister; the new cabinet supersedes the Dajokan (Grand Council of State) as the central organ of the Japanese state		Canadian Pacific Railway completed
	Tianjin (Tientsin) Convention: agreement reached between China and Japan concerning their interests in Korea
1886		Great Britain annexes Burma
1888	Privy Council established		Eastman produces Kodak camera
1889	Meiji Constitution promulgated		Gustave Eiffel completes Tower in Paris
	First Election law of 1889 limits voting to the House of Representatives to men over 25 who paid ¥15 or more in national tax (about 1% of the population)		First American skyscraper built in Chicago
1890	Imperial Rescript on Education
1893	Artist Kuroda Seiki returns from study in Paris and introduces impressionism to Japan	Tonghak Rebellion, a peasant uprising, breaks out in Korea. (China and Japan intervene in 1894, commencing the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895)
		France annexes Laos
1894	Anglo-Japanese Commercial Treaty abolishes extraterritoriality and restores partial tariff autonomy to Japan	Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)
1895	Treaty of Shimonoseki concludes Sino-Japanese War: China recognizes the independence of Korea; Japan gains Formosa (Taiwan), and Pescadores Islands; Liaodong Peninsula now controlled by Japan (Japan gives this up a few months later, only to have Russia gain the leasehold in 1898); China pays ¥364 million indemnity; and Japan gains same extra-territorial rights as Western countries	Queen Min of Korea is assassinated by Japanese troops
1898	Jiyuto and Kaishinto become Kenseito (Constitutional Party); later becomes Minseito in 1927	Hundred Days of Reform of Kang Yuwei	Spanish-American War: Spain cedes Puerto Rico, Philippines, Guam to the United States; United States annexes Hawaii
1899	Extra-territoriality privileges (in place since 1858) removed by foreign governments
1900	Rikken Seiyukai (Friends of Constitutional Government Party) formed by Ito Hirobumi	Boxer Rebellion in China
1901	Future Emperor Hirohito born (first emperor since 1758 not born of an imperial concubine)		Commonwealth of Australia established
1902	Anglo-Japanese Alliance signed
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1904-05	Russo-Japanese War. Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905 concludes hostilities: Russia recognizes Japan's interests in Korea; Japan gains southern part of Sakhalin Islands; Russian lease on Liaodong Peninsula; and South Manchurian Railway line between Port Arthur and Mukden
1905	Hibiya Incident	Korea becomes a Japanese protectorate. In 1910, Japan's role is expanded and Korea is annexed
1906	Japan Socialist Party formed	South Manchurian Railway incorporated	Major earthquake hits San Francisco
1907		King Kojong of Korea is forced to resigned, and Japan gains control of Korea's internal affairs	U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt bans Japanese from immigrating to the United States
1908	Japan gains U.S. recognition of its special status in Manchuria		First Model T Ford is made
1909	Ito Hirobumi assassinated on his arrival in Manchuria by a Korean nationalist		Washington D.C. receives 2,000 flowering cherry saplings from Japan
1910	High Treason Incident: Kotoku Shusui implicated in a plot to assassinate the Meiji Emperor	Korea is made a colony of Japan	Beginning of Mexican revolution (to 1917)
1911	Tariffs imposed by the Western powers in the "unequal treaties" are abolished	Republic of China established in 1912 with Sun Yat-Sen as president	Roald Amundsen first to reach the South Pole
1912	Meiji Emperor, Mutsuhito dies. His son Yoshihito ascends to the throne marking the beginning of the Taisho period (1912-26)	Yuan Shikai becomes president of the Republic of China (1912-16)	SS Titanic sinks
1914-18	During WWI, Japan sides with the "Allies"; seizes German island colonies in the Pacific and German concessions in the Shandong peninsula
1915	Twenty-One Demands addressed to China
1916		China is controlled by warlords (1916-21)
1917			Bolshevik Revolution
1918	Hara Takashi (Kei) becomes the first Party Prime Minister		Women over 30 given the right to vote in Great Britain
	High rice prices incites riots throughout Japan
1918-32	Era of Party Cabinet rule (exception: "transcendental" cabinets of 1922-24)
1919	Japan wins German concessions in China and the Pacific from the Treaty of Versailles, but its request for inclusion of a racial equality clause is denied	March First Movement in Korea
1920	Tax qualification for suffrage reduced to ¥3 (still restricted to men)		Women gain the right to vote in the United States
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1921		Chinese Communist Party founded
1922	Japan Communist Party established
	Elder statesman (genro) Yamagata Aritomo dies
1923	Elder statesman Matsukata Masayoshi dies. Saionji Kimmochi, who dies in 1940, is the last surviving genro
	Great Kanto earthquake
1924	Japan Communist Party disbanded and re-organized underground in 1926		Vladimir Ilyich Lenin dies
1925	Universal suffrage for men	Korean Communist Party founded	Mein Kampf published
	Peace Preservation Law
1926	Taisho Emperor dies. His son, Hirohito, ascends the throne marking the beginning of the Showa period (1926-1989)	Northern Expedition in China (1926-28)
1927	Severe depression (in place since the 1920s) causes many commercial banks to collapse		Charles Lindbergh's first solo flight across the Atlantic
1928	Japanese Kwantung Army assassinate Chang Tso-lin, warlord of Manchuria in an attempt to justify the presence of Japanese troops
1929	Japan returns to the gold standard		United States stock market crashes
early 1930s	Keynesian financial reforms implemented: (1) devaluation of the yen to reduce price of Japanese goods; (2) interest rates reduced in half to stimulate private economic investment; (3) government spending on military procurements and public works increased
1930	Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi mortally wounded by a right-wing radical
1931	Manchurian Incident: The Kwantung Army dynamites a section of the South Manchurian Railroad in Mukden, and claim that it was caused by Chinese bandits. This is used to justify the subsequent takeover of Mukden, and Japan's move into southern Manchuria.		Empire State Building built in New York
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1932	Shanghai Incident: Japan sends troops to Shanghai to 'protect' Japanese citizens	Kim Il Sung active in anti-Japanese guerilla warfare in Manchuria
	Japan establishes the puppet-state of Manchuko (in Manchuria) with former Chinese Emperor Pu-Yi as the head of state
	May 15th Incident: Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi is assassinated during an attempted coup by young naval officers
	End of Party Cabinents
1933	Kwantung Army moves into Inner Mongolia		Franklin Roosevelt introduces the New Deal
	Japan withdraws from the League of Nations		Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
1934	Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and London Naval Treaty of 1930 abrogated by Japan	Chinese Communists' Long March to Yan'an (1934-35)	Discovery of nuclear fission
1936	226 Incident: Young military officers launch an abortive coup d'etat
	Japan withdraws from the London Naval Conference
1937	Second Sino-Japanes War (1937-45)	Japanese colonial government institutes wartime assimiliation and mobilization	Golden Gate Bridge completed in San Francisco
	Nanking Massacre
1938	National Mobilization Law: Government provides subsidies for war production; controls activitities of civil and labor organizations, corporations, news media outlets; and limits industrial and consumer commodities, contracts, and price		Germany occupies Austria
1939	Nomonhan Incident: Japanese and Soviet troops clash at the Manchurian and Mongolian border; this incident follows a clash a year earlier on the borders between Korea, Manchuria, and Siberia		Germany invades Czechoslovakia and Poland
	Unions and other worker organizations are dissolved
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1940	Tripartite Pact signed by Germany, Japan, and Italy		Battle of Britain
1941	Japan signs a neutrality pact with the Soviet Union	Japan moves troops into southern French IndoChina.	Germany invades the Soviet Union
	Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro resigns; General Tojo Hideki becomes Prime Minister		Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
1942	Japan gains control of Dutch East Indies		Battle of Midway
1943	Cairo Declaration proclaims that Japan will be stripped of all land seized or occupied since 1914		Surrender of German army at Stalingrad
1944			D-Day landing in Normandy
1945	American troops land in Okinawa		Yalta Conference: Stalin secretly pledges to Churchill and Roosevelt that the Soviet Union will enter the war against Japan once Germany is defeated
	Soviet Union informs Japan that it will not renew its neutrality pact		Germany surrenders after Hitler commits suicide
	Potsdam Declaration calls for Japanese "unconditional surrender" or its "utter destruction"
Year	Japan	Asia	World
8/6/1945	Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Another bomb is dropped on Nagasaki days later.
8/8/1945	Soviet Union declares war on Japan
8/15/1945	Emperor announces end of hostilities; words such as "surrender" and "defeat" are not mentioned
9/2/1945	Instrument of Surrender signed on USS Missouri; Allied Occupation under General Douglas MacArthur as SCAP (Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers) begins
Oct-45	SCAP opens its office in Tokyo. Fundamental civil liberties granted. Trade Union Law guarantees the right to organize, bargain collectively, and strike
Nov-45	Political parties, including Japan Communist Party and Japan Socialist Party, are re-established
1946	Emperor Showa renounces his divinity	Civil war erupts in China (continues until 1949)	Construction of first electronic digital computer
	May 1946: Yoshida Shigeru (of the Liberal Party) becomes Prime Minister
	Constitution promulgated. It goes into effect on May 3, 1947
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1947	General Strike scheduled for February 1 is banned by SCAP		U.S. announces the Truman Doctrine
	Katayama Tetsu (of the Socialist Party) becomes Prime Minister; he resigns in February 1948
1948	Yoshida Shigeru (of the Liberal Party) becomes Prime Minister (again)	Founding of the Republic of Korea in the southern Korean and the Democratic Republic of Korea under Kim Il Sung in the north	Creation of the State of Israel
1949	Dodge Line (anti-inflationary measures) introduced; exchange rate set at ¥360=$1	Communist victory in China	Communist rule established in Hungary. Creation of West and East Germany
			Formation of NATO
1950	SCAP orders the creation of a Police Reserves Corps	Korean War breaks out
1951	President Truman dismisses General MacArthur. General Matthew Ridgeway appointed as SCAP
	San Francisco Peace Treaty. Japan regains its status as an independent country and demands for payment of war reparations are henceforth abolished. Japan also signs a mutual security treaty with the United States
1952	End of Allied Occupation of Japan		Accession of Elizabeth II of Great Britain
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1953		Korean War ends in cease fire	Death of Joseph Stalin
mid 1950s	Minamata disease caused by mercury pollution breaks out in Kumamoto prefecture
1955	Liberal Democratic Party established. Maintains a majority in the Japanese Diet until 1993		Formation of Warsaw Pact
1956	Japan admitted to the United Nations		Suez Crisis
1957	Former War Criminal Kishi Nobusuke becomes Prime Minister		Launch of the first space satellite, Sputnik I
1960	1951 mutual security treaty with the U.S. is replaced with a revised treaty of security and mutual cooperation
	President Eisenhower's trip to Japan to sign the new treaty is cancelled in the face of popular protest
	Ikeda Hayato becomes Prime Minister and announces a income doubling plan
1961			Berlin Wall built
1962			Cuban Missle Crisis
1964	Japan joins the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)	Publication of the Thoughts of Chairman Mao	Civil Rights Bill passed in the United States
	Summer Olympics held in Tokyo. Bullet train commences operation
	Soka Gakkai (a lay Nichiren Buddhist organization) forms the Clean Government Party (Komeito)
	Sato Eisaku (half brother of Kishi Nobusuke) becomes Prime Minister
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1965	"Itai-itai" disease caused by cadmium pollution breaks out in Toyama prefecture	Republic of Korea normalizes relations with Japan
		Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China (to 1976)
1968	Kawabata Yasunari awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature		Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated
1972	Nixon Shocks: U.S. opens relations with China and devalues dollar	East Pakistan becomes Bangladesh
	U.S. returns control of Okinawa (excluding military bases) to Japan. Okinawa becomes the 47th prefecture
1973	First oil crisis (to 1974)
1974	Tanaka Kakuei (Prime Minister since 1972) resigns due to charges of public corruption. Miki Takeo becomes Prime Minister		U. S. President Richard Nixon resigns in the wake of the Watergate scandal
	Ex-Prime Minister Sato Eisaku awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
1976		Death of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai	Concorde begins transatlantic flights
1978			John Paul II becomes Pope
1980	Nakasone Yasuhiro become Prime Minister	Kwangju Massacre in Korea
mid 1980s	Economy surges resulting in a "bubble" of speculative investment and loans
1987	Takeshita Noboru becomes Prime Minister
1988	A 3% consumption tax is instituted	Summer Olympics held in Seoul, Korea
1989	Showa Emperor dies. His son Akihito ascends to the throne marking the beginning of the Heisei period	Tiananmen demonstrations and crackdown in China	Soviet Union army withdraws from Afghanistan
	Prime Minister Takeshita resigns following involvement in a political scandal. He is replaced by Uno Sosuke who after two months in office resigns after an affair with a geisha becomes public. He is replaced by Kaifu Toshiki		Opening of Berlin Wall
	Liberal Democratic Party established loses its majority in the Upper House of the Diet
1990			Reunification of Germany
1991	Kiichi Miyazawa becomes Prime Minister
1992	National Self-Defense Force (NSDF) participates in United Nations Peace Keeping Operations
1993	Crown Prince Naruhito marries Owada Masako	Former political dissident Kim Young Sam is elected president of the Republic of Korea
	Liberal Democratic Party loses its majority power in the Diet. Government is headed by a socialist prime minister Murayama Tomiichi) for the first time since 1947
1994	Oe Kenzaburo awarded Nobel Prize for Literature	Kim Il Sung dies. His son Kim Jong Il succeeds him as president of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Year	Japan	Asia	World
1995	Earthquake hits Kobe
	Adherents of Aum Shinrikyo religion launch a deadly attack on Tokyo subways
1996	Hashimoto Ryutaro (of the LDP) becomes Prime Minister
1997		Hong Kong returned to China
		Deng Xioping dies
		Former political dissident Kim Dae Jung is elected president of the Republic of Korea
1998	Winter Olympic Games held in Nagano prefecture
	Keizo Obuchi becomes Prime Minister
1999	The rising sun flag and the hinomaru anthem are officially declared legal symbols of Japan	Chinese government begins crackdown on the supporters of Falungong movement
	LDP forms a coalition government with the Komeito (Clean Government Party)
2000	Mori Yoshino becomes Prime Minister	Representatives of North (DPRK) and South (ROK) Korea engage in unification talks
	Empress Dowager Nagako dies. She was chosen as Hirohito's wife when she was 14 years old.
	Unemployment rate reaches an all-time high of 4.9%
2001	New-born princess to Prince Naruhito and Princess Masako lends attention to revision of the existing Imperial Family Law to allow for female succession to the imperial throne	China enters the World Trade Organization	September 11 attacks on World Trade Center and Pentagon. United States, Britain and allied nations launch war on Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan