1928 (Shōwa 3 / 昭和3年) – presentTezuka Chronologybeta

A bank panic brings down 37 banks and the Wakatsuki government. The sector is concentrated around the large zaibatsu (Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Yasuda), strengthening their political and economic weight.

Guandong army officers blow up the Manchu warlord's train. The affair revealed military insubordination, provoked the resignation of the Tanaka cabinet and foreshadowed the invasion of Manchuria.

The global depression collapses silk exports and ruins the Japanese countryside. Rural poverty fuels military radicalism and the belief that only continental expansion will save the country.

The Hamaguchi government accepts new naval limits despite opposition from the General Staff. The controversy over the “right of supreme command” weakens civilian control over the military.

The Prime Minister is seriously injured by an ultranationalist at Tokyo station. He died the following year. It is the first in a series of political assassinations that terrorize civilian elites.

Japan proclaimed a puppet state nominally led by Puyi. Manchuria becomes a planned economy laboratory and destination for Japanese settlers, while diplomatically isolating Tokyo.

Young naval officers assassinate Prime Minister Inukai. Light sentences and popular sympathy mark the end of party governments and the beginning of “national unity” cabinets dominated by the military.

After the Lytton report condemning the invasion of Manchuria, the Japanese delegation left Geneva. Japan engages in diplomatic isolation and gradual rapprochement with Germany and Italy.

1,400 soldiers attempt a coup and kill several ministers. Its repression paradoxically strengthens the “control” faction of the army, which now imposes its supervision over national politics.

The agreement with Nazi Germany against the Communist International sealed Japan's orientation towards the Axis powers and permanently distanced Tokyo from London and Washington.

A skirmish near Beijing degenerates into all-out war against China. The undeclared conflict mobilized millions of men and bogged down Japan for eight years.

The capture of the Chinese capital was accompanied by massacres and mass rapes. The event remains at the heart of Sino-Japanese memorial tensions and controversies over school textbooks.

The Konoe government gains the power to control the economy, labor and the press without going through the Diet. This is the legal basis for the total state of war.

Guandong's army is crushed by Zhukov's Soviets. The defeat deters further northward expansion and directs Japanese strategy toward Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

The neutrality pact with Moscow secures the northern flank and frees forces for the offensive in the Pacific. Stalin denounced him in August 1945 (Shōwa 20 / 昭和20年).

The surprise attack on the American fleet opens the Pacific War. A tactical success, it united American opinion and condemned Japan to confront an industrial power ten times greater.

The surrender of 80,000 British soldiers was the greatest defeat of the British Empire. Japan dominates Southeast Asia and proclaims the “Co-Prosperity Sphere”.

The loss of four aircraft carriers breaks the Japanese offensive momentum six months after Pearl Harbor. The strategic initiative definitively passes to the United States.

After six months of fighting, Japan abandons the island. This is the beginning of the withdrawal: the campaign has exhausted the naval aviation and the best pilots, who are irreplaceable.

The loss of Saipan, which placed Japan within range of the B-29s, caused the resignation of General Tōjō. The regime is now looking for a way out without daring to admit it.

Organized suicide attacks begin in the largest naval battle in history. They symbolize strategic despair and leave a lasting mark on Japanese memory of the war.