Takeo Miki
Saitō Takao caused a stir in his time for delivering a fiery speech against the Sino-Japanese War, leading to his expulsion from the Diet. Kan Abe, the paternal grandfather of later Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was elected to the Diet in 1942 on an anti-Hideki Tojo platform along with future Prime Minister Takeo Miki, who also secured election to the Diet in 1942 on an anti-Tojo platform through mutual assistance with Abe. Another future prime minister who opposed militarism was Tanzan Ishibashi, who spearheaded numerous articles and organisations before and during the war that opposed Japanese colonialism and illiberal authoritarian policies, being aided in his efforts by thinkers such as Kiyoshi Kiyosawa and Kisaburo Yokota.