A centralised state has existed in Japan since the 4th century. In the middle of the 19th century, the ruling elite set about developing Japan's industrial and military power, and methodically adopted much from the West. Japan's rapid rise led to a war with China 1894-95, Russia 1904-05, and the annexation of Korea in 1910. Japan appeared to be becoming a liberal democracy in the 1920s, but the Great Depression led to acute economic problems and military domination. Japanese military expansion in China after 1931 led to friction with Western powers and, faced with an oil blockade, Japan started the Pacific War.

 

The Allied occupation after the Second World War introduced far-reaching political, social and economic reforms before Japan regained full independence when the San Francisco Peace Treaty came into force in April 1952. By 1955, a strong co-operative arrangement was established between a dominant conservative party, the bureaucracy and business, which successfully implemented policies aimed at rapid industrial growth. This concentrated economic activity in some regions and led to policies aimed at ensuring wealth was redistributed to rural areas. The Democratic Party of Japan-led Government that came into power in September 2009 is committed to reforming the 1955 system.