Chapter 3

Political challenges - Emperor Yoshihito was sickly + many of the Genro left due to age → divisions between court officials, civilian politicians and military worsened - Military: opposed the internationalist policy of diplomacy and trade (led by c.p.) and resented the P.M. and their cabinets for cutting military’s budget, HENCE, they began to act on their own, disregarding the PM and their cabinets → Emperor also could not enforce much control over them + appointed by the emperor, so PM did not have authority to remove military officials who did not follow his policies - Civilian politicians (in the cabinet): much divided because of emergence of party politics → Two parties that were elected (Seiyukai and Minseito) in the Diet were fighting for power and influence in the govt. → made it hard for the PM to gain support of the majority + Diet was a coalition with multiple political parties and they could refuse to support the PM’s decisions - Privy council: advised the emperor + had power to overturn decisions made by the PM, even forced some PMs to resign Economic challenges → After war had ended, Japan began to face economic problems, e.g. 1920S: severe inflation that made goods very expensive, like the price of rice increased by 174% + there was unemployment + there was also decline in overseas demand for Japanese goods, so large companies dismissed thousands of workers → growing resentment among Japanese towards the civilian government Countryside: - industrial growth did not benefit them much + insufficient land due to the large population growth - 1920s: productivity of farmers stagnated as technological advances in farming (like better tools and cultivation techniques) did not spread as fast to the countryside - Tenant farmers: struggled to survive as most of their harvest went to paying their landlords → not much to eat → even if they had their own land, the land they owned were often small and had poor harvests

Tensions in Japanese society Rural-Urban divide: - Japanese government supported the wealthy zaibatsu → resulting in wealth being concentrated in the hands of big businesses while workers and peasants lived in poverty → widen gap between rich and poor - Countryside: richest landlords made up about 2-3% of the population + did not work on the farms but lived on rent from tenant farmers, living in luxury and eng