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200: Sushi is invented
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250: The shintoist shrine of Ise is founded.
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300: Large tombs (kofun) were built for the deceased leaders. Japan is for the first time (more or less) united
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500: Japan adopts the Chinese alphabet
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550: The Sun (Soga) dynasty ascends to the throne. The capital of Japan is moved to their homeland, the Asuka valley in the central Yamato plain.
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604: Prince Shotoku's Constitution of seventeen articles is promulgated
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645: The Fujiwara era startsShotoku is succeese by Kotoku Tenno, who strengthens imperial power over aristocratic clans (Taika Reform), turning their states into provinces
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710: Nara becomes the first permanent capital.
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1016: Fujiwara Michinaga becomes regent
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1159: The Taira clan under Taira Kiyomori takes over the power after the Heiji war
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1175: The Buddhist Jodo Sect (Pure Land Sect) is introduced
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1180: Start of the Gempei War, the Minamoto clan puts an end to Taira supremecy.
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1185: End of the Gempei War
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1191: The Zen sect is introduced
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1192: Minamoto Yoritomo is appointed shogun and establishes the Kamakura government
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1221: The Jokyu Disturbance ends a struggle between Kamakura and Kyoto resulting in the supremacy of the Hojo regents in Kamakura
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1232: A legal code, the Joei Shikimoku, is promulgated
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1274: The Mongol's first attempt to invade Japan, failing mainly beacuse of bad weather conditions
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1281: The Mongol's second attempt to invade Japan, again failing mainly beacuse of bad weather conditions
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1333: The Kamakura bakufu falls
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1334: Kemmu restoration: the emperor restores power over Japan
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1336: Ashikaga Takauji captures Kyoto
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1337: The emperor flees and establishes the Southern court in Yoshino
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1338: Takauji establishes the Muromachi government and a second emperor in Kyoto (Northern court)
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1392: Unification of the Southern and Northern courts
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1467: The Onin war begins
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1477: The Onin war ends
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1542: Portuguese introduce firearms and Christianity to Japan
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1573: The Muromachi bakufu falls
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1575: The Takeda clan is defeated in the battle of Nagashino
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1582: Nobunaga is murdered and succeeded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi
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1588: Hideyoshi confiscates the weapons of farmers and religious institutions in the "Sword Hunt"
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1590: Japan is reunited after the fall of Odawara (Hojo)
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1592: Beginning of the unseuccessful attacks to invade Korea.
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1598: End of the unseuccessful attacks to invade Korea.
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1600: Tokugawa Leyasu defeats his rivals in the battle of Sekigahara
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1603: Leyasu is appointed shogun and establishes the Tokugawa government in Edo (Tokyo)
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1614: Leyasu intensifies persecution of Christianity
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1639: Almost complete isolation of Japan from the rest of the world because foreign travelling was forbidden and trade was limited
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1688: The Genroku era begins and culture flourishes
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1703: The Genroka era ends
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1792: The Russians unsuccessfuly try to establish trade relations with Japan
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Commodore Matthew Perry forces the Japanese government to open a limited number of ports for trade
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1872: First railway line between Tokyo and Yokohama
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1894: The Sino-Japanese war begins
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1895: The Sino-Japanese war end
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1904: The Russo-Japanese war begins
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1905: The Russo-Japanese war ends
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1910: The annexation of Korea
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1912: Death of emperor Meiji
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1914: Japan joins allied forces in World War 1
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1923: The Great Kanto Earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama
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1931: Manchurian Incident
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1937: Second Sino-Japanese war starts
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1941: Japanese attack the USA Pearl Harbor as part of World War 2 (Pacific War)
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1945: Japan surrenders in World War 2 after two atomic bombs are dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki
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1946: The new constitution is promulgated
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1956: Japan becomes a member of the United Nations
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1995: The Great Hanshin Earthquake hits Kobe
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0 AD: Shintoism becomes the national religion and the "emperor" is merely an official in charge of preforming Shinto ritualsand symbolic ceremonies.
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2009: The Democratic Party of Japan becomes the ruling party
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2011: The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami at Tohoku
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538: Introduction of Buddhism
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749: Shomu's daughter Koken, becomes empress
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784: The capital moves to Nagaoka
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788: The Buddhist monk, Saicho, founds the monastery of Mt. Hiei, near Kyoto, which will becomea vast ensemble of temples
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794: Kammu moves the capital to Heian (Kyoto)