Japanese party government before World War Two
While political parties were introduced to Japan during the Meiji Restoration, Japanese party government before World War Two never was the dominant factor as in parliaments under the Westminster system. The first party cabinet was formed in 1898, but Emperor Hirohito advised abandoning them after the March 1931 incident. Cabinets had varied in having military or party leadership.
After the Restoration, Taisuke Itagaki formed Aikoku Koto (Public Party of Patriots), in 1874. It advocated a directly elected parliamentary system.
Compromise
The Saiyukai party, formed in 1900 by Hirabumi Ito, combined Ito's faction of government with the more liberal group under Itagakai. By 1918, Hara founded a government because he controlled a Diet majority, not that he was simply the Emperor's choice.[1]
More parties
In 1882, Shigenobu Okuma founded the Rikken Kaishinto party (Constitutional Reform Party)
End of party government
After the March 31 Incident of 1931, in which radical young officers assassinated the Prime Minister, Hirohito and his advisers chose to move away from party government to help stabilize the situation.[2] During the second Konoe government in 1940, the political parties dissolved themselves. [3]
References
- ↑ Edwin O. Reichshauer (1977), The Japanese, Harvard University Press, p. 251
- ↑ Herbert P. Bix (2001), Hirohito and the making of modern Japan, Harper Perennial, ISBN 978-0060931308, pp. 252-254
- ↑ David Bergamini (1971), Japan's Imperial Conspiracy, Morrow, p. 715