M928 HANNEMAN TEXT M/UP.qxd 16/8/07 11:47 AM Page 58 Gary Gary's G4:Users:Gary:P 3 Taisho¯ Democracy he period of great change that is called Taisho¯ democracy proved Tto be one of the busiest times of Nyozekan’s life. In these early years of his career as a journalist, Nyozekan threw himself into his chosen calling as a “critic of civilization.” In addition to writing books, he wrote and traveled for the Osaka Asahi Shimbun, and after leaving the newspaper, launched two successive magazines. The period of Taisho¯ democracy spurred Nyozekan’s hopes of seeing the trend toward liberalism fulfilled in Japan. But before the period was over, his hope gave way to disillusion with the course of political trends. Taken at face value, and ignoring the undercurrents of authori- tarianism present in the Meiji period (for example, the emperor- centered Meiji Constitution), the Taisho¯ period seemed the next step in a natural evolution toward participatory democracy. The period was characterized by the implementation of policies that supported democracy, for example the move toward government conducted by the lower house of the Diet consisting of represen- tatives popularly elected by universal manhood suffrage. This kind of government and society, intellectuals believed, was possible under the Meiji Constitution and could be achieved through gradual and peaceful change.1 But the aspirations for democratic change were not just limited to intellectuals: according to Sugimura Takeshi, a journalist active at the time, the Taisho¯ period was an era during which, “In terms of the thinking of the masses, the imported ideas of Western democracy flowed into the country . this was the thread that ran through the Taisho¯ era.”2 In the international arena, the guiding principles of Taisho¯ democ- racy advocated an end to Japan’s aggressive policies in Asia and urged Japanese membership in the international community. The brief ascendancy of these guiding principles defines the period of Taisho¯ democracy better than dates, for this era of prewar M928 HANNEMAN TEXT M/UP.qxd 16/8/07 11:47 AM Page 59 Gary Gary's G4:Users:Gary:P Taisho¯ Democracy 59 liberalism extended beyond the Taisho¯ reign (1912–26) from which it derives its name. Liberal currents were evident in Japanese politics as early as the late nineteenth century. The Popular Rights Movement, for example, “sought the establishment of a popularly-elected system of parliamentary government (minsei giin) based on the theory of natural rights and popular sovereignty.”3 But it was the Taisho¯ polit- ical crisis, several decades later, which seemed to set Japanese poli- tics on the course toward true democracy. In December 1912, following the new emperor’s accession to the throne in July, the army forced the collapse of the second Saionji cabinet. Despite public outcry against the strong-arm tactics of the army, the genró appointed Katsura Taro as Saionji’s replacement. The appointment of Katsura, who was strongly identified with clique government, intensified the public outcry, which coalesced into the “Movement to Protect Constitutional Government” under Inukai Tsuyoshi and Ozaki Yukio, former leaders of the earlier popular rights movement. Katsura was forced out of office. Thus, the popular movement to protest against government tactics in the Taisho¯ political crisis demonstrated the burgeoning liberal trends in Japanese society. By strengthening the role of the parties, it also contributed to progress toward two-party government, ultimately culminating in Seiyukai leader Hara Kei’s appointment to the premiership in 1918. The year 1918 was critical in the period of Taisho¯ democracy for other reasons as well. Indeed, Andrew Barshay has called 1918 the “crucial fulcrum” of the era. That August, popular distress over the inflation and financial dislocation of the war years erupted in the Rice Riots. Intellectuals, notably journalists like Nyozekan, protested for more abstract reasons: not only were they opposed to the anti-Soviet Siberian Expedition, they were also inflamed by the government’s repression of the press and the remote nature of domestic politics as reflected in the persistence of “transcendental cabinets.” But it was the nationwide popular protest over sky- rocketing rice prices that prompted Prime Minister Terauchi Masatake to call out 92,000 troops4 that had the more immediate impact in bringing about the resignation of Terauchi’s transcen- dental cabinet. This resignation provided the opening for Hara’s party government, and although the transcendental cabinet was not yet dead, it was dying and by 1924 had expired. The year 1925 brought another benchmark of Taisho¯ democracy with the passage of the universal manhood suffrage bill. The simul- taneous passage of the Peace Preservation Law, however, took the shine off this victory of liberal principles, and like the Terauchi gov- ernment’s press censorship in the midst of the Rice Riots, it hinted.