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Tag Archives: Constitutional Association of Political Friends (1900-1940)

Keisuke Okada and the Junior Officers’ Uprising

From 1934-1936, Keisuke Okada became the second consecutive moderate admiral to serve as prime minister, though on a weaker political footing than his predecessor. Still, he managed to stay on top of the situation until Imperial Army radicalism led to a violent uprising by junior officers.

Tsuyoshi Inukai and the Murder of Democracy

From 1931-1932, veteran politician Tsuyoshi Inukai served as prime minister, attempting to manage the multifaceted international crisis. While he made significant progress in coping with the Great Depression, the military slipped entirely out of control. A group of young officers effectively ended this period in Japanese democracy with direct political violence.

Osachi Hamaguchi and the Great Depression

From 1929-1931, the Lion Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi brought strength and determination to the more liberal forces in Japan, effectively staring down a challenge from radical officers in the Imperial Navy. His economic policy regarding the Great Depression was also strong and decisive, but unfortunately quite mistaken. Before his error had become entirely clear, however, he was wounded and ultimately killed by an assassin’s bullet.

Takaaki Kato and Universal Male Suffrage

From 1924-1926, Takaaki Kato led an administration which marked the pinnacle of the period of “Taisho Democracy.” Its crowning achievement was the passage of a law granting voting rights to all male Japanese age 25 or older, regardless of economic status.

Gonnohyoe Yamamoto and the Great Kanto Earthquake

From 1923-1924, Admiral Gonnohyoe Yamamoto made a return as prime minister. He was brought in to provide leadership in the wake of the cataclysmic Great Kanto Earthquake. Yamamoto made some progress in providing relief services, but was unable to bring political stability.

Tomosaburo Kato and Military Retrenchment

From 1922-1923, Admiral Tomosaburo Kato led the Japanese government. While in principle it was a clear setback for democracy to have a military man and not an elected politician running the administration, Kato skillfully carried out the sensitive tasks of cutting defense budgets and ending some internationally controversial military deployments.

Korekiyo Takahashi and the Eclipse of Central Authority

From 1921-1922, finance specialist Korekiyo Takahashi served as prime minister of Japan. His brief tenure, however, was mainly notable as a period in which the nation was adrift at its senior levels; those in authority or who had commanded policy in earlier years had disappeared through death and illness.

Masatake Terauchi and the Rice Riots

From 1916-1918, General Masatake Terauchi spent a mostly unhappy two years as prime minister of Japan. He successfully carried forward Japan’s involvement in the First World War, but shadows darkened both at home and abroad.