What period do you have interested in?

This is what books are for. You can also use the internet to research any topic you want. Good luck!

Use internet. Study yourself before asking people everything!! and if there are some questions remained, then you can ask. there are alwasy this kind of ppl on the Internet. And your question is too narrow anyways.

-----------modern age-------------------------- 1868-1912 Meiji era. Meiji revolution. Emperor govern the nation again. Debut to international society. ↓ 1912-1926 Taisho era. Democracy movement. Participate to imperialism as a modernized nation-state. ↓ 1926-1945 Showa era(first half) Military ruled the gov. WWII and atomic bombs. ↓ 1945-1989 Showa era(post war) Democracy again. Emperor as a symbol of nation( like British Queen now). Peace. Explosive economic growth. ↓ 1989- Heisai era. Economic bubble collapse. Development of IT and subculture.　←We are here! ----------------------------------

I do agree PP-kei and James. However, since you asked and I'm here, I just made the quickest overview. Note that it's my view and my understanding. ---------------ancient age---------------- 100000-10000years ago Pre-historic era: Ancient people come from overseas, islands of Japan cut off from Asian continent . ↓ 10000years ago-3rd century BC Jomon era. People lived on hunting and collecting. ↓ 3 BC-3AD Yayoi era. Introduction of rice cropping. Numerous small village-states founded. ↓ 3-7th century Kohun era. King of Yamato become dominant and expand. Introduction of Buddhism via China&Korea. ↓ 6-8th century Asuka era. Yamato gov. and emperor as ruler established. ↓ 8th century Nara era. Laws and ruling system strengthened. ↓ 8-12nd century Heian era. Aristocracy. Peace. Rise of feudalism and samurai class. ↓ ---------------middle age----------- 12-14th century Kamakura era. First shogun gov. founded while emperor remained as authority. ↓ 14c Nanbokucho era. Emperor line split to two. ↓ 14-16c Muromachi era . Two lines integrated to one. Feudal lords gain more power. ↓ 15-16c Sengoku era. Feudal lords fight each other. ↓ 17c Azuchimomoyama era. Nobunaga & Hideyoshi win the country. Introduction of western culture along with Christianity. ↓ 17-19c Edo era. Ieyasu defeat Hideyoshi and establish Edo gov. Peace. Ban of Christianity. Restriction of foreign trade. ↓