Today in Japanese History: March 5 (UCLA Teaching about Japan website)

March 5

1869 The daimyo of Satsuma, Choshu, Tosa, and Hizen formally returned their domains to imperial control. Young samurai from these western domains (han) had played key roles in ending Tokugawa rule over Japan in 1867-68. Click here to see a map showing Tokugawa Japan. The Yale University Library has a copy of the 1783 "Sekisui map" of Japan.

1932 Dan Takuma, a banker, was assassinated by a member of the Ketsumeidan outside his offices in Tôkyô.

1998 The Winter Paralympic Games opened in Nagano. More than five hundred athletes from thirty-two countries participated, making the Nagano games the largest Winter Paralympics ever.

2001 Prime Minister MORI Yoshiro's Liberal Democratic Party (Jiyu minshuto 自由民主党) government survived a no confidence motion (Fushinninan) put forward by opposition parties. However several major Japanese newspapers reported that Mori's faction expects him to soon resign -- ahead of his first anniversary (in April) as prime minister.

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