9781422285879

The horrific aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. The name of the pilot who dropped the bomb and the plane he piloted are noted on the top left of the image.

Industrialization continued well into the twentieth century, when Japan became recognized as a world power. It participated victoriously in World War I on the side of the Allies. With Japan’s alliance with the Axis Powers in World War II and the bombing of U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 1941, the United States declared war on Japan and entered the war on the side of the Allied Powers. The dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the war in 1945 left Japan in ruins. The nation demon- strated resilience, however, quickly drafting a new democratic constitution, with the cooperation and oversight of the United States and other Allied powers, that widened the scope of rights for citizens. Workers sprung back to make Japan the second largest economy in the world throughout the sec- ond half of the century.

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MAJOR NATIONS IN A GLOBAL WORLD: JAPAN