Timeline
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11 Feb 660The legendary date of the founding of the nation of Japan, marking the ascent of Emperor Jimmu, the first emperor to establish the imperial dynasty and state. According to myth, he was assisted in his rise to power by the goddess Amaterasu. The date is celebrated annually in Japan as National Foundation Day.
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3 Mar 724Empress Gensho of Japan abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew, Obito, to assume power under the throne name of Emperor Shomu.
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18 Oct 1565The Battle of Fukuda Bay, the first recorded naval conflict between Europeans and Japanese, is fought between the fleet of the Portuguese Empire and that of the Matsura Clan over a trade and port disagreement, ending in a victory for the Portuguese.
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5 Feb 1597The 26 Martyrs of Japan are executed by crucifixion under the decree of Chancellor Toyotomi Hideyoshi to deter the spread of Christianity which he felt would undermine Japanese culture. The 26 were Catholic missionaries and laypeople who were tied to crosses and killed with spears. They were canonized by the Church in 1862.
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2 Mar 1657The Great Fire of Meireki begins in Edo, Japan (present day Tokyo), raging for three days, destroying 70% of the city, and killing over 100,000 people. The event is named for the date it occurred according to the Japanese calendar: the 18th day of the 1st month of the 3rd year of the Meireki era.
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28 Oct 1707The 1707 Hoei Earthquake strikes Japan with an estimated magnitude of 8.6-8.7 raising a tsunami with waves as high as 75 feet (23 m) in some places, destroying almost 30,000 homes and killing an estimated 21,000 people.
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16 Dec 1707The Hoei Eruption of Mount Fuji begins, the last confirmed volcanic eruption confirmed historically, lasting until 24 February 1708. The eruption was catastrophic for the people of the region as volcanic ash covered the fields of crops and choked the rivers. Upwards of 20,000 people died from starvation due to famine, flooding, mudslides, and respiratory problems.
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24 Oct 1886The merchant-passenger ship *Normanton* sinks off the coast of Japan, resulting in the so-called Normanton Incident when the British captain, John William Drake, saves only the European members of his crew, leaving the Asian crewmembers and 25 Japanese passengers to drown. The event sparked increased anti-Western sentiment in Japan.
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21 Nov 1894The Port Arthur Massacre begins during the First Sino-Japanese War when Japanese troops, seeking revenge for murdered comrades in the town, begin indiscriminately killing Chinese soldiers and civilians of all ages, men, women, and children with an estimated death toll of upwards of 2,000 and possibly as high as 60,000.
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8 Oct 1895Empress Myeongseong, wife of Gojong, emperor of the Korean Empire, is assassinated for her stand against Japanese influence in overseas commerce, causing nationwide protests and international condemnation of the murder.
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21 Oct 1895The Capitulation of Tainan occurs during the Japanese invasion of Taiwan when the city of Tainan surrenders to Japanese forces, ending the Republic of Formosa and beginning the period of Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan.
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15 Jun 1896The Sanriku Earthquake strikes the Sanriku Coast, Honshu, Japan with a magnitude of 8.5 on the Richter scale, triggering a tsunami with waves as high as 124 feet (38 m), killing over 20,000 people and destroying over 9,000 homes and buildings. It is among the most destructive natural events in Japanese history.
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8 Feb 1904The Russo-Japanese War begins when the Japanese Imperial Navy strikes the Russian fleet stationed at Port Arthur, China in a surprise attack. The Russian fleet was destroyed and more Japanese victories followed until they won the war on 5 September 1905.
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21 Sep 1934The 1934 Muroto Typhoon makes landfall on Honshu and Shikoku, Japan, with winds at 90 mph (150 km/h) killing over 3,000 people and causing upwards of $300 million in damage.
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13 Dec 1937The Rape of Nanjing (also known as the Rape of Nanking, Nanjing Massacre) begins during the Second Sino-Japanese War, following the Battle of Nanjing, when Japanese soldiers rape and massacre men, women, and children in the Chinese city of Nanjing, killing over 200,000 people in one of the worst wartime atrocities in history.
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7 Dec 1941The Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor occurs when the Empire of Japan launches a coordinated assault on US and UK positions in Guam, Hong Kong, Wake Island, and Hawaii, resulting in the United States entering World War II the next day when President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares war on Japan.
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2 Jan 1942The Japanese army takes the Philippines capital of Manila and the air base at Cavite during World War II, dealing the Allied Forces a crushing blow in the capture of the primary US base in the Western Pacific.
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6 Aug 1945The United States drops the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, destroying the city and killing upwards of 100,000 people with others later dying from radiation poisoning. A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August, forcing the Japanese surrender in World War II.
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15 Sep 1947The Typhoon Kathleen strikes the Kanto region of Japan with winds approximated at 105 mph/h (165 km/h), resulting in the deaths of upwards of 1,000 people.
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24 Sep 1952The Myojin-sho volcano erupts underwater near the Izu Islands, Japan, destroying the vessel Kaiyo Maru No. 5, in the process of surveying it, killing all 31 members of the crew, and sending a large tsunami toward shore.
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25 Aug 1958Nissin Chikin Ramen, the popular instant noodle foodstuff, produced by Nissin Foods, debuts on the market. Invented by Momofuku Ando, instant noodles became incredibly popular and the go-to meal of college students worldwide up through the present day.
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10 Dec 1968The largest and most famous heist in Japanese history occurs, known as the 300 Million Yen Incident (300 Million Yen Robbery) in Tokyo, Japan, when a young man posing as a police officer stops the car of four bank employees, transporting 294 million yen, and tells them a bomb had been planted in the car. When the employees left the vehicle, the man jumped in and drove off. His identity remains unknown, and the money was never recovered.
