Imperial Japan

Empire of Japan Greater Japanese Empire
Dai Nippon Teikoku
1868–1947
Flag Imperial Seal
Motto 五箇条の御誓文 "Charter Oath" ("The Oath in Five Articles")
Anthem "Kimigayo" 君が代 ("His Imperial Majesty's Reign")
The Empire of Japan in 1942   Empire of Japan 1870–1905   Acquisitions 1905–30   Trusteeship, concession, occupied territories
Capital		Tokyo
Languages		Japanese
Religion		De jure: none De facto: espousing Shintoism Other: Buddhism
Government		Daijō-kan (1868–1885) Constitutional monarchy (1890–1947) One-party military dictatorship (1940–1945)
Emperor
•	1868–1912	Meiji (Mutsuhito)
•	1912–1926	Taishō (Yoshihito)
•	1926–1947	Shōwa (Hirohito)
Prime Minister
•	1885–1888	Itō Hirobumi (first)
•	1946–1947	Shigeru Yoshida (last)
Legislature		Imperial Diet
•	Upper house	House of Peers
•	Lower house	House of Representatives
Historical era		Meiji, Taishō, Shōwa
•	Meiji Restoration	January 3, 1868
•	Constitution adopted	November 29, 1890
•	Russo-Japanese War	February 10, 1904
•	Pacific War	1941–1945
•	Surrender of Japan	September 2, 1945
•	Reconstituted	May 2, 1947
Area
•	1938	1,984,000 km² (766,027 sq mi)
Population
•	1920 est.	77,700,000a
•	1940 est.	105,200,000b
Currency		Japanese yen, Korean yen, Taiwanese yen, Japanese military yen
Preceded by Succeeded by Tokugawa Shogunate Ryūkyū Kingdom Republic of Ezo Qing Dynasty Russian Empire Korean Empire German New Guinea Dutch East Indies Occupied Japan Military Government of the Ryukyu Islands Republic of China Military Government in Korea Soviet Civil Authority Sakhalin Oblast Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands Dutch East Indies
a.	56.0 million lived in Japan proper.
b.	73.1 million lived in Japan proper.

Other: Buddhism

The Empire of Japan (大日本帝國, Dai Nippon Teikoku^?, literally "Greater Japanese Empire") was the historical Japanese nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan.

Imperial Japan's rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei (富國強兵^?, "Enrich the Country, Strengthen the Armed Forces") led to its emergence as a world power and the establishment of a colonial empire. Economic and political turmoil in the 1920s led to the rise of militarism, eventually culminating in Japan's membership in the Axis alliance and the conquest of a large part of the Asia-Pacific region.

After several large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and the Pacific War, the Empire also gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered. After suffering many defeats and following the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan and invasion of Manchuria, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, however, the Empire surrendered to the Allies on August 15, 1945. A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender, and a new constitution was created with American involvement in 1947, officially dissolving the Empire. Occupation and reconstruction continued well into the 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the "State of Japan" or simply rendered "Japan" in English.