The collective work of leading Russian Japanese scholars is the first in many years in Russian literature a comprehensive presentation of the history of Japan of the 20th century, built on a problem-chronological principle. Based on a rich documentary base, the best scientific works of the past and the results of the latest research, the authors give the reader a full-scale idea of ​ ​ Japan's foreign and domestic politics, economy and culture. The book is free from ideological bias and contains a revision of the established assessments of a number of events of the past. The monograph looks at two models of Japan's development in the 20th century - along the path of militarization, which led it to a crushing defeat in World War II, and along the path of democratization, as a result of which it turned into an economic superpower of the world and became an equal member of the G8.