Jepun: Perbezaan antara semakan

Sejak pertengahan akhir kurun ke 16, pedagang daripada [[Portugal]], [[Sepanyol]], [[Belanda]], dan [[United Kingdom|England]] tiba, membawa dengan mereka mubaligh-mubaligh [[Nasrani|Kristian]]. Pada awal kurun ke 17, puak ''shogun'' mengesyaki bahawa mubaligh Katolik tersebut sebenarnya adalah orang terdahulu (''forerunners'') ....arrived, as did [[Christianity|Christian]] missionaries. During the first part of the [[17th century]], Japan's shogunate suspected that Catholic missionaries were actually forerunners of a military conquest by Iberian powers and ultimately barred all relations with the Europeans except for severely restricted contacts with Protestant Dutch merchants at [[Dejima]] off [[Nagasaki]], though Chinese ships were permitted to enter Nagasaki and Korean envoys to proceed to the capital. This isolation lasted for 251 years, until Commodore [[Matthew Perry (naval officer)|Matthew Perry]] forced the opening of Japan to the West with the [[Convention of Kanagawa]] in [[1854]].

 

 

The early [[20th century]] saw Japan come under increasing influence of an expansionist military, leading to the invasion of [[Manchuria]], a second [[Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)|Sino-Japanese War]] ([[1937]]). Japan allied with [[Germany]] and [[Italy]] and formed the Axis Pact. Japanese leaders felt it was necessary to attack the US naval base in [[Pearl Harbor]] ([[1941]]) to ensure Japanese supremacy in Southeast Asia. However, the entry of the [[United States]] into [[World War II]] would slowly tilt the balance in the Pacific against the Japanese. After a long [[Pacific]] campaign, Japan lost [[Okinawa]] in the [[Ryukyu]] islands and was pushed back to the four main islands. The [[United States]] made fierce attacks on [[Tokyo]], [[Osaka]], and other cities by [[strategic bombing]], and [[Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki]] with two [[atomic bomb]]s. Japan eventually agreed to an unconditional surrender to the [[United States]] on [[August 15]], [[1945]].