Japan: the rise and fall of an empire

Japan: The Rise and Fall of an Empire covers many decades of Japanese Empire history. It identifies the beliefs, the policies, and the practices of the Japanese from 1853 to the Pacific War. It describes Japan¿s opening to modernization with the 1853 arrival of commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry in the country, and details the wars launched by Emperor Meiji and Emperor Hirohito.The book exposes the expansionist policy practiced by Japan at the end of the 19th century and during the first period of the 20th century. Indeed, since the adoption of the Meiji Constitution in 1889 and the first period of the Sh¿wa era (1927¿1945), the military has controlled Japan¿s constitutional government. The result has been years of political instability, with more internal strife, violence, killings, assassinations, foreign aggression, and war crimes.In the second part, the book describes what happened to Japan after WW2. A period of occupation by the Allies followed. In 1947, with American involvement, a new constitution was enacted, officially bringing the Empire of Japan to an end.