In the book Japan From Shogun To Sony, by John R. Roberson, Roberson principally discusses a brief history of Japan. He also discusses Japans hardships and what it had to overcome to make it own independent status in the world today. Its difference from Japan And Its World is that Jansen deals more with the ideas economical status of Japan, while Roberson deals with a greater history.

Oda Nobunaga achieved control over the province of Owari in 1559. As many other daimyo, he was keen in uniting Japan. Strategically favorably located, he succeeded in capturing the capital in 1568. After establishing himself in Kyoto, Nobunaga continued to eliminate his enemies. Among them were some militant Buddhist camps, especially the Ikko camp that had become very powerful in several provinces. Nobunaga destroyed the Enryakuji monastery near Kyoto completely in 1571. His fight against the Ikko sect continued until 1580. Rather

In 1603, Ieyasu was appointed Shogun by the emperor and established his government in Edo. The Tokugawa shoguns continued to rule Japan for over remarkable 250 years. Ieyasu brought the whole country under tight control. Ieyasu continued to promote foreign trade. He established relations with the English and the Dutch and enforced the persecution of Christianity from 1614 on.

In 1720 a decline of the financial situation of the government led to higher taxes and riots among the farm population. Also, Japan regularly experienced natural disasters and years of famine that caused riots and further financial problems for the central government and the daimyo. As the merchant class grew increasingly powerful, some samurai became financially dependent of them.

In order to stabilize the new government, the former feudal lords (daimyo) had to return all their lands to the emperor. This was achieved already in 1872 and followed by the restructuring of the country in prefectures. The education system was reformed after the French and later after the German system. Among those reforms was the introduction of enforced education. Catching up on the military sector was a main concern for Japan in an era of European and American imperialism. Since Japan spent a lot, this led to a financial crisis in the middle of the 1880's, which was followed by a reform of the currency system and the establishment of the Bank of Japan. The textile industry grew fastest and remained the largest Japanese industry until WW2. On the political sector, Japan received its first European style constitution in 1889. Political parties did not yet gain real power due to the lack of unity among their members.

Conflicts of interests in Korea between China and Japan led to the Sino-Japanese War in 1894-95. Japan defeated China, received Taiwan, but was forced by Western powers to return other territories. This made the Japanese army and navy more in need to be greater. Russia and Japan had new conflicts of interests in Korea and Manchuria, and this led to the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-05. The Japanese army also won this war gaining territory and finally some international respect. Japan further increased her influence on Korea and took her over completely in 1910. In Japan, the war successes caused nationalism to increase even more, and other Asian nations also started to develop

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Approximate Word count = 1591
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)