Japan World History

Though scarcely mentioned in the world of early 21st century politics, Manchuria represented a key region of Asia during the first half of the 20th century. Once the heartland of the fierce Manchu empire, this northeastern Chinese region's rich natural resources made it a prize for nations in the process of entering the modern age, and three ambitious nations in the midst of such a transformation lay close enough to Manchuria to attempt to claim it: Japan, Russia, and China.

Long before Japan was united under the Tokugawa Shogunate, the northern island of Ezo (modern Hokkaido) was invaded, ruled, and pillaged by the Japanese for financial and political gain, marginalizing the native people there. They never officially colonized the island until the late 1800s but for centuries, practiced proto-colonization.

Of the numerous disasters, both natural and man-made, to strike Japan during the 20th century, the Great Kantō Earthquake was among the worst, and the most significant. The massive earthquake struck the Japanese capital region, including the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama, shortly before noon on Saturday, September 1, 1923, causing immense physical destruction.

Bill O'Reilly takes the listener on a journey through the greatest war the world has ever experienced. As the European theatre is coming to a close and the Allied Powers have overtaken Hitler and his Nazi regime it is now time to focus on the Far East.

Approximately 200,000 women and girls were forced into sexual slavery during World War 2. They were also known as comfort women, a translation of Ianfu(慰安婦), the Japanese term for "comforting, consoling woman." Although most of the women came from Korea, women from other occupied regions such as Burma, China, Philippines, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaya, Manchukuo, Taiwan, New Guinea, Portuguese Timor, and the Dutch East Indies were also taken into the military sexual slavery.

Luego de su aplastante victoria en Midway, Estados Unidos había conseguido frenar el peligrosísimo avance japonés que amenazaba con quitarle el dominio de Hawaii, la única base segura con la que contaban. El dominio de la isla de Guadalcanal, clave en la comunicación entre Oceanía y las posesiones norteamericanas en el Pacífico, alcanzó entonces una preponderancia estratégica significativa.

Tras el horror máximo de Hiroshima y Nagasaki, el emperador de Japón, Hirohito, obligado por la inaudita devastación de su territorio, debió pedir la paz a los Estados Unidos. Desde entonces, y con gran sacrificio del trabajador pueblo nipón, el proceso de reconstrucción de su nación se llevó a cabo. Sin embargo, nadie esperó jamás los límites de crecimiento que experimentaría.22