Democracy and Empire
between the World Wars
From Taisho to Showa

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The Taisho Emperor• Prince Yoshihito took the throne in 1912 at theage of 37.
• There was a spread belief that he was always
sick and mentally disturbed.
• Maruyama Masao, a famous intellectual
historian, reported rumors of the emperor’s
strange behavior:– He rolled up the text of his proclamation to open asession of the Diet, and used it like a telescope topeer at the assembled dignitaries.
2Transition• Admiral Yamamoto Gonnohyoe organized acabinet in alliance with the Seiyukai party in1913.
• Yamamoto resigned in disgrace over theSiemens scandal (Top navy officials received
kickbacks from a German corporation) in 1914.
• Between 1913 and 1918, political parties
increased power through negotiations andcompromises.
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The First Party Cabinet• In 1918, Hara kei formed a cabinet composedalmost entirely of party members, except for thearmy, navy, and foreign ministers.
• The Seiyukai remained in power for 4 years.
• In 1921, Hara was assassinated, and succeedby Takahashi Korekiyo.
• Party cabinets were interrupted in 1922. Afterthen the oligarch consecutively appointed twonavy men and a president of the Privy Council.
• The non-party cabinets were called“transcendental cabinets.”4Call for “normal constitutionalgovernments”• Three parties won the election and formed a
coalition to take office in 1924.
• Since then party cabinets continued until 1932.
• The elitist authors of the Meiji constitution did not
expect for the Diet to play a dominant role in thenation’s politics.
• But people enthusiastically demanded“constitutional government,” based on elected
diet representatives.
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The Showa Emperor• Prince Hirohito served as imperial regent during hisfather’s illness from 1921 to 1926.
• He took the throne in 1926 and maintained it until 1989.
• Emperor Hirohito was regularly briefed by his ministers.
• He had a belief that the monarch should have aresponsibility to indicate his views to the ministers.
• His opinions could have major political consequences.
– The first example: Prime Minister Tanaka was reprimanded by
the emperor for his handling of military affairs in China, andresigned in 1928.

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Military and Bureaucracy• Neither the military nor bureaucracy bore any
accountability to the Diet.
• The constitution set forth the emperor’s directright to supreme command of the military.
• Military leaders could take this clause as alicense to act independently of the cabinets.
• Although the laws and budgets had to be ratified
by the Diet, they did not owe their jobs to theparliament. They served as appointees of theemperor.
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The oligarch remained in power• The members of the Privy Council had
extraordinary legal powers, and were appointed
for life by the emperor.
• The House of Peers served as a bastion ofemperor-centered authoritarian politics.
• The last oligarch, Saionji, withdrew in early
1930s under the increasing influence of themilitary.
• The informal power of the oligarch (genro) wassucceeded by a group of senior statesmen(jushin).
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The oligarch and voters• The oligarch did not always appoint the head ofthe majority party.
• In 1927, 1929, and 1931, Saionji appointed theleader of the opposition party as prime minister,because of a perceived failure of the incumbent
majority party.
• Each time the new prime minister called anelection, and his party won a majority.
• Japan’s voters ratified changes of government
after the fact, but did not bring them about.
9Political Terror• Prime Minister Hara was assassinated in
1921.
• Prince Hirohito was attacked by a leftist in1923.
• Such attacks intimidated future party
leaders, while public opinion often praised
the purity of the attacker’s motives.

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Kita Ikki
• He was the most influential intellectual topromote a radical nationalist vision that would
later inspire political terror.
• In 1923 he published his manifesto in An Outline
Plan for the Reorganization of Japan.
• He called on a vanguard of young military
officers to seize power, suspend constitution,and remake the political structure to unite theemperor and the people.
• He proposed a communist-like economic plan,
while insisted on the traditional roles of womenbeing mothers and wives.
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Left-wing Movements• Both elitist bureaucracy and party rulers were
threatened by various and energetic left-wing
movements, inspired by the Russian Revolution.
• Osugi Sakae, an influential anarchist, called for
direct actions such as strikes, to bring about amore egalitarian society.
• Yamakawa Hitoshi and Arahata Kanson founded
the Japan Communist Party (JCP) in 1922,
financially supported by the Comintern.
• The communist party was never legal until 1945.
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Yoshino Sakuzo• He was a professor of law at Tokyo
Imperial University, and a leading
advocate of parliamentary liberalism.
• In 1916 he published a famous
essay to put forward his vision ofJapanese style of constitutional
government.
• According to him, the government
should protect people’s welfare, andrespect the emperor’s sovereignty at
the same time.
• He promoted a people-oriented
political institution (minpon-shugi),
not democracy itself.
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Politics of divide and rule
• On one hand, voting rights were extended touniversal mail suffrage in 1925. All men overage 25 who were not on public assistance weregranted the right to vote.
• On the other hand, the rulers took a zerotolerance approach to left radicals. Police killed
Osugi Sakae and his lover in 1923.
• In 1925 the Diet passed a Peace Preservation
Law to punish any ideas to criticize “the systemof private property.”• In 1928 police arrested hundreds peopledaccused as communists.
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Seeking equality withthe imperial powers of the West
Major questions:
1. Should Japan cooperate with the West,or take unilateral actions in China?
2. Should Japan support China’s struggling
new government, or help local warlords
resisting it?
3. Should Japan work with the Soviet Union,
or destroy it?
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Japan in China• Japan joined WWI in accordance with the AngloJapanese alliance of 1902, and took German
possessions in Shandong Peninsula.
• Japan then addressed the notorious TwentyOne Demands to China, which was reacted by
China’s people with outrage.
• In 1917 Japan and the US signed the IshiiLansing agreement, which obligated Japan torespect China’s independence, and US torecognize Japan’s “special interests” in China.
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Versailles Treaty• Japan joined the WWI peace conference
as one of the victorious allies.
• Japan wanted to confirm its control over
Shandong, and called for racial equality to
be included the founding principles of theLeague of Nations.
• The West recognized Japan’s interests inShandong, but refused to include theracial equality clause.
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The Siberian Intervention• Japan wanted to support anti-communist
regimes in far eastern Russia.
• In 1918 the West finally decided to send troops
to Russia and asked Japan to join them.
• Japan dispatched more than 12000 soldiers,
and stayed in Russia after other powers
withdrew their troops.
• This hopeless unilateral action received much ofinternational criticism.
• Japan agreed with US and UK to keep theirwarship capacities to a ratio of 3:5:5 in 1922.
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Japanese Immigrants in US• The increasing presence of Japan in theworld nurtured a sense of threat called“Yellow Peril” in the West.
• In 1922 the US supreme court ruled thatno Japanese or other Asian immigrants
could become naturalized Americancitizens.

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Japan in Asia
• Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese War
initially flamed anti-colonial passions in Asia.
• Asian people viewed it as the first modern
victory of a “yellow” race over the “whites”.
• Thousands of youth sought education in Japan.
• But Japanese support for the youthful Asian
dreams of liberation evaporated in the face ofimperial realpolitik.
• (May Fourth Movement) In China, on May 4,
several thousand students demonstrated against
Japan.
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Domestic Opinions on Imperialism• A few intellectuals such as Yoshino Sakuzo,
combined support for democracy at home withsupport for self-determination of colonialsubjects, Koreans in particular.
• By 1921 public opinion turned against theSiberian Intervention, and supported thegovernment effort to reduce military budget.
• Kita Ikki supported Japan’s imperialism in thename of destroying the Anglo-Americanmonopolies in Asia.
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