History and Politics

Modern Japan and Government

25 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 25 questions

  1. Which US naval officer led the black ships into Edo Bay in 1853 to demand that Japan open to trade?
  2. The 1854 treaty signed after Perry's visit opened which two ports to American ships?
  3. Which city became the capital after the Meiji Restoration, after Edo was renamed Eastern Capital?
  4. Which statesman led the drafting of the 1889 Meiji Constitution after studying European constitutions, especially Prussia's?
  5. Which former leader of the Restoration led the 1877 rebellion by discontented samurai in Kyushu?
  6. Which territory did Japan gain from China under the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki?
  7. Which US president mediated the 1905 treaty that ended the Russo-Japanese War?
  8. In which year did Japan formally annex Korea?
  9. Which disaster of 1 September 1923 devastated Tokyo and Yokohama?
  10. Which puppet state did Japan set up in north-eastern China in 1932?
  11. Which Hawaiian naval base did Japan attack on 7 December 1941?
  12. On which date was the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki?
  13. Which American general headed the Allied occupation of Japan after 1945?
  14. Which article of the 1947 Constitution renounces war as a sovereign right and bars war potential?
  15. What are the two chambers of Japan's national parliament, the Diet?
  16. What role does the 1947 Constitution give the emperor?
  17. Who designates the Prime Minister of Japan, before the emperor formally appoints him or her?
  18. Which treaty, signed in 1951, restored Japanese sovereignty from April 1952?
  19. The Liberal Democratic Party was formed in 1955 by merging which two conservative parties?
  20. In which year did Okinawa return from US administration to Japanese rule?
  21. Which policy, announced by Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in 1967, bars Japan from possessing, producing or introducing nuclear weapons?
  22. In which year were the Japan Self-Defense Forces created?
  23. Which 1960 treaty revision triggered mass Anpo protests and led to the resignation of Prime Minister Kishi?
  24. Which 1871 measure replaced the feudal domains with prefectures governed by appointed officials?
  25. Which tribunal, opened in Tokyo in 1946, put Japan's wartime leaders on trial for war crimes?

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