1895 - China cedes Taiwan to Japan and permits Japan to trade in China.
1904 - Japan goes to war with Russia. Japanese victory in 1905.
1910 - Japan annexes Korea after three years of fighting. Japan is now one of the world's great powers.
1914 - Japan joins World War I on the side of Britain and her allies. Japan has limited participation.
1919 - Treaty of Versailles gives Japan some territorial gains in the Pacific.
1923 - Earthquake in Tokyo region kills more than 100,000 people.
1925 - Universal male suffrage is instituted. The electorate increases fivefold.

Ultra-nationalism
Late 1920s - Extreme nationalism begins to take hold in Japan. The emphasis is on a preservation of traditional Japanese values, and a rejection of "Western" influence.
1931 - Japan invades Manchuria, renames it and installs a puppet regime.

1932 - Japanese prime minister is assassinated by ultra-nationalist terrorists. The military holds increasing influence in the country.
1936 - Japan signs an anti-communist agreement with Nazi Germany. It concludes a similar agreement with Italy in 1937.

Brutal war with China
1937 - Japan goes to war with China. By the end of the year, Japan has captured Shanghai, Beijing and Nanjing. Japanese forces commit atrocities, including the "Rape of Nanjing", in which up to 300,000 Chinese civilians are said to have been killed.
1939 - Outbreak of World War II in Europe. With the fall of France to Nazi Germany in 1940, Japan moves to occupy French Indo-China.

Attack on Pearl Harbor
1941 - Japan launches a surprise attack on the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Twelve ships are sunk, with a further 9 damaged; nearly 2,500 people are killed. The US and its main allies declare war on Japan the following day.
1942 - Japan occupies a succession of countries, including the Philippines, Dutch East Indies, Burma and Malaya. In June, US aircraft carriers defeat the Japanese at the Battle of Midway. The US begins a strategy of "'island-hopping", cutting the Japanese support lines as its forces advance.
1944 - US forces are near enough to Japan to start bombing raids on Japanese cities.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
1945 - US planes drop two atomic bombs, one on Hiroshima (6 August), the second on Nagasaki (9 August). Emperor Hirohito surrenders and relinquishes his divine status. Japan is placed under US military government. All Japanese military and naval forces are disbanded.

1947 - A new Japanese constitution comes into force. It establishes a parliamentary system, with all adults eligible to vote. Japan renounces war and pledges not to maintain land, sea or air forces for that purpose. The emperor is granted ceremonial status.
1951 - Japan signs peace treaty with the US and other nations. To this day, there is no peace treaty with Russia, as the legal successor to the Soviet Union.

Independence
1952 - Japan regains its independence. The US retains several islands for military use, including Okinawa.
1955 - Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) formed, which governs for more than 35 years.
1956 - Japan joins United Nations.

1964 - Olympic Games held in Tokyo.
1972 - Japanese prime minister visits China and normal diplomatic relations are resumed. Japan subsequently closes its embassy in Taiwan.
Okinawa is returned to Japanese sovereignty, but US retains bases there.
1982 - Japanese car firm Honda opens its first plant in the US.
1989 - Emperor Hirohito dies, succeeded by Akihito.

1993 - Elections held against a background of bribery scandals, and economic decline see the LDP lose power for the first time since 1955. A seven-party coalition takes power.
1994 - The coalition collapses. An administration supported by the LDP and the Socialists takes over.
Natural and man-made disasters
1995 January - An earthquake hits central Japan, killing thousands and causing widespread damage. The city of Kobe is hardest hit.

1995 March - A religious sect releases the deadly nerve gas sarin on the Tokyo underground railway system. Twelve people are killed and thousands injured.
Three US servicemen based on Okinawa rape a local schoolgirl. There are mass protests demanding the removal of US forces from the island.
1997 - The Japanese economy enters a severe recession.
1998 - Keizo Obuchi of the LDP becomes prime minister.
2000 - Obuchi suffers a stroke and is replaced by Yoshiro Mori. Obuchi dies six weeks later.
2000 November - Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori resigns while on a visit to Japan. He later takes up Japanese citizenship and avoids extradition.
2001 February - A US submarine executes an emergency surfacing manoeuvre off Hawaii and collides with a Japanese training vessel. Nine Japanese are missing after the incident.
2001 March - Mori announces his intention to resign as LDP leader and prime minister.
2001 April - Junichiro Koizumi becomes new LDP leader and prime minister.

2001 April - Trade dispute with China after Japan imposes import tariffs on Chinese agricultural products. China retaliates with import taxes on Japanese vehicles and other manufactured goods.
2001 August - Koizumi pays homage at the Yasukuni shrine dedicated to Japan's war dead, provoking protests across Asia. The memorial also honours war criminals.
2001 October - Koizumi visits Seoul and offers an apology for the suffering South Korea endured under his country's colonial rule.
2001 December - Thousands celebrate the birth of Japan's new princess - the first child of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako. The event reignites the debate about whether Japan should revise the male-only succession law.
2002 September - Koizumi visits North Korea, the first Japanese leader to do so. He meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-il who apologises for the abductions of about a dozen Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s and confirms that eight of them are dead.
2002 October - Five Japanese nationals kidnapped by North Korea return home to emotional reunions with their families.
2002 November - North Korea accuses Japan of breaking promise to send kidnap victims back after family reunions. Japan demands that North Korean families of abductees be allowed to join them. The dispute sets back the process of normalisation between the two countries.
2003 June - Lower house of parliament gives the green light for troops to be sent to Iraq to help with reconstruction efforts.