板垣退助
Dissatisfied with government policies restricting freedom of speech, he retired from the Genrōin in 1879 and decided to devote his energies to the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. He purchased a newspaper, the "Yokohama Mainichi Shinbun". Reorganizing it into the "Tōkyō-Yokohama Mainichi Shinbun", he used it as a mouthpiece for the liberal ideas he always supported, and used it to call for the establishment of a national assembly. In 1881, he prepared the foundation of Liberal Party with Itagaki Taisuke but joined the "Rikken Kaishintō" with Ōkuma Shigenobu following year. At the same time, from 1882 until his death, he was head of the Tōkyō Prefectural Assembly.