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Post-Meiji Period Japan. Japan as an Imperial Power. Citizens asked for more voice in government Had more money to spend Politics and society were more open than ever 1925: Universal suffrage granted. Zaibatsu Economy. Zaibatsu: manufacturing processes concentrated within single enterprise
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Japan as an Imperial Power • Citizens asked for more voice in government • Had more money to spend • Politics and society were more open than ever • 1925: Universal suffrage granted
Zaibatsu Economy • Zaibatsu: manufacturing processes concentrated within single enterprise • Mitsui • Mitsubishi • Sumitomo • Yasuda
Zaibatsu Economy • Led to growing economic inequalities • Great Depression added to crisis • Return to “traditional” values • Militarist group gained control of Japanese political system
Militarist Japan • Japanese society was put on wartime status: • Economic resources under gov’t control • Political parties merged into Imperial Rule Assistance Association • Called for Japanese expansion • Education and culture purged of Western ideas
Pearl Harbor • December 7, 1941 • Japan was desperate for raw materials • 2400 Americans were killed • 5/8 battleships were sunk or sinking
Attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki • August 6, 1945: First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima • 60% of buildings destroyed • 140,000 were killed • August 9, 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
Outcome • The bombs left the Japanese no choice but to surrender • Soviets declared war too