Human habitation of the Japanese archipelago dates back to approximately 36,000 BC. Between the 4th and 6th centuries, rival kingdoms were unified under an emperor, and from the 12th century onward, real power passed to military rulers known as shōgun.
Japan was unified under the Tokugawa shogunate in 1600, which maintained an isolationist policy for over two centuries. In 1853, an American naval fleet forced Japan to open its ports to foreign trade, setting in motion a chain of events that led to the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and rapid modernization. Japan entered World War II as an Axis power and, following its defeat and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, surrendered in 1945 and underwent Allied occupation.
The postwar decades brought an extraordinary economic recovery. Japan is governed as a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy, divided into 47 administrative prefectures, and is widely regarded as a great power and the only Asian member of the G7. Its economy — the fourth largest in the world by nominal GDP — is driven by global leadership in the automotive, electronics, and robotics industries.