| | 10,000 BC Upper Paleolithic known as the Jomon Era |
| 300 BC | The Yayoi period heralding new technologies and skills, many obtained from China |
| 0 AD: | Shintoism becomes the national religion ( Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar in 1873 )
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| 250 | 250-260 Founding of the Great Shrine of Ise
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| 500 | Japan adopts the Chinese alphabet
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| 552 | Introduction of Buddhism into Japan
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| 645 | Kotoku became the emperor of Japan |
| 749 | Shomu's daughter Koken, becomes empress
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| 794 | The Heian era - the Capital of Japan moved to Heian-kyo |
| 838 | The Japanese emperor forbids contacts with China
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| 1100s | The Taira and the Minamoto fought for control of Japan |
| 1180s | The Minamoto clan obtained controlled of the country
1181: Great famine kills hundreds of thousands of people
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| 1192 | Yoritomo was given the title Shogun and led the government which became known as a Shogunate
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| 1274 | Kublai Khan and the Mongols try to invade Japan but are repelled by "kamikaze"
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| 1330 | The Ashikaga clan seized power |
| 1467 | Civil war erupts in Japan which is split among feudal lords (daimyo)
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| 1549 | Saint Francis Xavier, a Portuguese missionary, arrived in Japan. The Portuguese were the most successful Europeans in initiating major trade agreements with the Japanese
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| 1603 | Tokugawa leyasu was given the title of Shogun by the emperor. This title was held by the dynasty for 265 years
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| 1614 | Ieyasu bans Christianity from Japan
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| 1630s | The Japanese broke ties with all foreigners for the next two hundred years |
| 1707 | Mount Fuji erupts
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| 1854 | The Japanese agree to open two ports to the United States for trade |
| 1868 | The Meiji Emperor announced the official return of the imperial power and was declared a divine ruler
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| 1873 | 1873: Japan grants religious freedom and adopts the Gregorian calendar
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| 1895 | The Japanese conquer Taiwan |
| 1910 | Japan conquers Korea |
| 1914 | 1914 - 1918 World War I - Japan declared war on Germany |
| 1931 | Japanese conquer Manchuria |
| 1936 | Japanese sign a anti-communist pact with Germany and Italy |
| 1940 | Japan entered World War 2 by occupying the northern part of French Indochina |
| 1941 | 7 December: Japanese attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii |
| 1944 | 18 July: The government headed by Prime Minister Tojo collapsed |
| 1945 | August: The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
2 September 1945 Japan officially surrendered and World War II ended. |
