Misplaced Pages

#734265

30-704: The Kenseikai was founded on 10 October 1916, as a merger of the Rikken Dōshikai (led by Katō Takaaki ), Chūseikai (led by Ozaki Yukio ) and the Kōyū Club (a minor opposition group). Led by Katō Takaaki, the new party was united by its opposition to the policies of the ruling Rikken Seiyūkai under Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu . The party was supported financially by the Mitsubishi zaibatsu , due to family ties with Katō Takaaki. Party leaders included Hamaguchi Osachi and Adachi Kenzō . The merger gave

60-521: A British-style constitutional monarchy within the framework of a parliamentary democracy . Inukai was first elected to the Lower House of the Imperial Diet in 1890, and was reelected 17 times, holding the same seat for 42 years until his death. Inukai's first cabinet post was as Minister of Education in the first Ōkuma Shigenobu administration of 1898, succeeding Ozaki Yukio, who

90-634: A moderate foreign policy. It pushed strongly for rule under the Meiji Constitution , without influence or control by the genrō . It also favored universal male suffrage (which led to the General Election Law ) and much needed reforms in labor laws and in the economic situation for farmers . However, despite its liberal image, the coalition passed the Peace Preservation Law in 1925. Following Katō's death,

120-538: The Rikken Minseitō , Junnosuke Inoue , and Director-General of Mitsui Holding Company , Dan Takuma . On 1 March, the state of Manchukuo was formally proclaimed. Symbolically, Inukai withheld formal diplomatic recognition as a gesture of displeasure against the radical faction within the Imperial Japanese Army, and out of concern due to the rapidly worsening international relations with

150-691: The Yomiuri Shimbun ) and Akita Sakigake Shimpō . He went with the Imperial Japanese Army to the front during the Satsuma Rebellion as a reporter. Ōkuma Shigenobu invited Inukai to help form the Rikken Kaishintō political party in 1882, which supported liberal political causes, strongly opposed the domination of the government by members of the former Chōshū and Satsuma domains, and called for

180-576: The 1915 General Election , with a 153 seats. After the dissolution of the Ōkuma government, the Dōshikai merged with Chūseikai and other small political parties to form the Kenseikai in October 1916. This article about a Japanese political party is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Inukai Tsuyoshi Inukai Tsuyoshi ( Japanese : 犬養 毅 , 4 June 1855 – 15 May 1932)

210-575: The Kenseikai a total of 198 seats in the Lower House of the Diet of Japan , thus forming a majority, and raised the expectation that Katō Takaaki would become the next prime minister. However, the position of prime minister was a direct appointment from the Emperor per advice provided by the genrō , and in this case, the genrō unexpectedly nominated General Terauchi Masatake instead. In protest,

240-597: The Kenseikai initiated a no confidence motion , which subsequently dissolved the Diet and led to the political isolation of the Kenseikai for almost a decade. During its period in the opposition, the Kenseikai strongly opposed the Siberian Intervention and pushed for greater rights for labor unions . In the 1924 General Election , the Kenseikai secured 150 seats, making it the largest single party in

270-542: The Mukden Incident . Following the resignation of the Wakatsuki administration over its failure to control the military and the failure of its economic policies, Saionji Kinmochi , Japan's sole surviving genrō , turned to Inukai to form a new government in 1931. Following his appointment, Inukai was instructed by Saionji to avoid drastic changes in either foreign policy or economics. Already disadvantaged by

300-633: The Nine-Power Treaty in not attacking China, and on 27 December 1931 not to authorize any moves by the Kwantung Army to occupy Jinzhou . However, by now the Imperial Japanese Army was completely beyond any civilian control and from January to March 1932 the conflict had spread to Shanghai with the 1st Shanghai Incident . During the 1932 General Election , buoyed by an upsurge in public opinion due to Japanese military successes in China,

330-499: The Qing dynasty . He later assisted Sun when Sun had to flee to Japan after his attempt to overthrow Yuan Shikai failed. Inukai had a deep respect for Chinese culture, and felt that Sino-Japanese cooperation was the cornerstone of Asian solidarity. Although in later years his vision of Sino-Japanese cooperation diverged greatly from Sun's, Inukai maintained close personal ties with many leading Chinese politicians. Inukai likewise supported

SECTION 10

#1732765645735

360-643: The Rikken Kokuminto party. Katsura was able to convince 90 Diet members (including all 31 members of the Chūō Club and half of the Rikken Kokumintō ) to join his new party. The party survived Katsura's death in 1913, and under the leadership of Katō Takaaki placed five of its members in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu in 1914–1916. It became the majority party in the Diet after

390-539: The United States , on which country Japan depended for much of its raw materials and capital investment. Inukai's struggle against the military led to his assassination during the May 15 Incident of 1932, which effectively marked the end of civilian political control over government decisions until after World War II . Inukai was shot by eleven junior Navy officers (most were just turning twenty years of age) in

420-600: The Vietnamese independence leader, Prince Cường Để , and invited him to Japan in 1915. Inukai returned to the cabinet as Minister of Communications in the second Yamamoto Gonnohyōe administration from 1923 to 1924. He was concurrently Education Minister again for a four-day period in September 1923 In 1922 the Rikken Kokumintō became the Kakushin Club , and joined forces with other minor parties to form

450-572: The English film star Charlie Chaplin  – who had arrived in Japan on 14 May and was Inukai's guest – in the hope that this would provoke a war with the United States. However, at the time, Chaplin was watching a sumo wrestling match with the prime minister's son, Inukai Takeru , and thus escaped. Inukai’s murderers received only light sentences for their actions. Inukai's third son

480-596: The Lower House, but without a majority. Katō agreed to form a coalition government with the Rikken Seiyukai (led by Takahashi Korekiyo ), which had 100 seats, and the Kakushin Club (led by Inukai Tsuyoshi ), which had 30 seats. This three-party coalition ( Goken Sampa Naikaku ) was the first ruling coalition government in Japanese history, and used its majority to focus on domestic political reform and

510-889: The Prime Minister's residence in Tokyo. Inukai's last words were roughly: If we could talk, you would understand ( 話せば分かる , hanaseba wakaru ) to which his killers replied Dialogue is useless ( 問答無用 , mondō muyō ) . The insurgents also attacked the residence of Makino Nobuaki , the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal , the residence and office of Saionji Kinmochi , headquarters of the Rikken Seiyukai, and tossed hand grenades into Mitsubishi Bank headquarters in Tokyo, and several electrical transformer substations. The original assassination plan had included killing

540-472: The Rikken Seiyukai won an overwhelming majority. On 8 January 1932, a Korean independence activist named Lee Bong Chang attempted to assassinate Emperor Hirohito in the Sakuradamon Incident . Inukai and his cabinet immediately offered their resignations; however, Hirohito wished to downplay the incident and refused. However, Inukai still came under strong criticism for his efforts to rein in

570-604: The cabinet during the premiership of Katō Takaaki in 1924. During his time, Inukai served on the cabinet again as Minister of Communications. The Kakushin Club then merged with the Rikken Seiyūkai , and Inukai continued as a senior member. In July 1929, Inukai travelled to Nanjing , China, with several other Japanese delegates at the invitation of Chinese government to a memorial service for Sun Yat-sen. The delegates later travelled to numerous other cities, and noted with concern

600-461: The early years of the 20th century. It was also known as simply the Dōshikai . Founded by Prime Minister Katsura Tarō on February 7, 1913, the Rikken Dōshikai largely served to support his cabinet against criticism by Ozaki Yukio and his Rikken Seiyūkai party, which at the time held a majority of the seats in the Lower House of the Diet of Japan , as well as by Inukai Tsuyoshi of

630-488: The fact that his Seiyukai was not the majority party in the Diet, he was also saddled with a cabinet composed of competing factions, ranging from his ultra-rightist Army Minister Sadao Araki to the liberal Finance Minister Takahashi Korekiyo . With a divided cabinet and a hostile Diet, Inukai governed with the assistance of the Privy Council , which passed emergency imperial edicts and budgetary measures to circumvent

SECTION 20

#1732765645735

660-602: The government of Katsura Tarō in 1913. During this time, his politics became increasingly conservative and he was associated with both leading figures from the Pan-Asian movement and with nationalists such as Tōyama Mitsuru . He was also a strong supporter of the Chinese republican movement , visiting China in 1907, and subsequently lending aid to Sun Yat-sen during the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 which overthrew

690-578: The growing anti-Japanese sentiment. In 1929, after the sudden death of Tanaka Giichi , Inukai became president of the Rikken Seiyūkai . Inukai was an outspoken critic of Japan's signing of the London Naval Treaty , which reduced military spending. He supported the actions of the Imperial Japanese Army in invading Manchuria in 1931, and rejected criticism from the League of Nations over

720-674: The military, while reformists criticized him for not going far enough. Inukai's efforts to limit further troop deployments to China and to defuse the Shanghai Incident through negotiations with the Chinese government drew increasing ire from the general public as well as the militarists. This soon metamorphosed into terrorist activity with the League of Blood Incident in which extremists targeted wealthy businessmen and liberal politicians. The group chose twenty victims but succeeded in killing only two: former Finance Minister and head of

750-595: The normal Diet budgetary process. Inukai immediately took steps to inflate the economy and to take Japan off the gold standard , implementing protectionist trade policies and attempting to stem Japan's trade deficit . These actions devaluated the yen, thus lowering the price of Japanese goods in world markets, and increasing exports. However, Inukai was forced to accede to a request by the Imperial Japanese Army to dispatch additional troops to Manchuria and to Tianjin , despite instructions as late as 23 December 1931 from Emperor Hirohito to maintain international trust per

780-688: The party was led by Wakatsuki Reijirō , but his cabinet was unable to weather the Shōwa financial crisis of 1927. The Kenseikai merged with the Seiyū Hontō in June 1927 to form the Rikken Minseitō . Rikken D%C5%8Dshikai The Rikken-Dōshi Kai ( Japanese : 立憲同志会 , lit.   'Association of Comrades of the Constitution';) was a political party active in the Empire of Japan in

810-518: Was a Japanese statesman who was prime minister of Japan from 1931 to his assassination in 1932. At the age of 76, Inukai was Japan's second oldest serving prime minister, after Kantarō Suzuki whose term ended at the age of 77. Inukai was born 4 June 1855, in Kawairi, Kaya, Bitchū Province (in present-day Okayama , Okayama Prefecture ), the second son of Inukai Genzaemon, a samurai , district magistrate and local official ( ōjōya ). His family

840-641: Was a branch of the Itakura clan , and were originally given a status that allowed them to wear a katana by the Niwase Domain . In 1876, Inukai travelled to Tokyo and subsequently graduated from the Keio Gijuku (now Keio University ) where he specialized in Chinese studies. In his early career, Inukai worked as a journalist for the Yūbin Hōchi Shimbun (now a sports newspaper subsidiary of

870-604: Was forced to resign due to a speech that conservative elements in the Diet charged promoted republicanism . However, Ozaki's resignation did not end the crisis, which culminated with the fall of the Ōkuma administration, so Inukai's term lasted only eleven days. Inukai was a leading figure in the successors to the Rikken Kaishintō , the Shimpotō , Kenseitō and the Rikken Kokumintō , which eventually toppled

900-402: Was writer, politician and post-war Minister of Justice Inukai Takeru whose grand daughter is popular actress Sakura Ando . His son-in-law was noted diplomat Kenkichi Yoshizawa . Through Yoshizawa, His great-granddaughter was Sadako Ogata , who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1991 until 2001, and his great-grandson Yutaka Kawashima served as Grand Chamberlain to

#734265