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The Japanese General Election of 1928

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Kenneth Colegrove
Kenneth Colegrove*
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
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Extract

On February 20, the long expected parliamentary election was held. As the first expression of national opinion under the manhood suffrage law, its result was awaited with unusual interest. Dissolution of the House of Representatives had been demanded by the liberal press ever since the passage of the election law of 1925, but the old parties had been reluctant to appeal to the electorate. In the fifty-second session of the Diet, the Kenseikai cabinet reaped a harvest of unpopularity by an arrangement with the Seiyukai and Seiyuhonto which prevented a no-confidence vote. When the Seiyukai came into office in April, 1927, it was apparent that any ministry which postponed dissolution would forfeit popular esteem; and in any case the four-year term automatically required a general election before May, 1928. The Kenseikai and the Seiyuhonto made preparation for the coming election by amalgamating into a united opposition under the name of the Rikken Minseito. The Seiyukai prepared by dismissing the governors in twenty-four of the forty-seven prefectures and filling their places with adherents who would promote the party's interests at the polls.

Type
Foreign Governments and Politics
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , May 1928 , pp. 401 - 407
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1928

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References

1 Part of the material used in this note was obtained through the courtesy of Mr. Teijiro Tamura, the Japanese consul at Chicago. Sources from the Kwampo and Japanese newspapers were translated by Mr. Sterling Takeuchi and Mr. Michinari Fujita.

2 Compare the speech by Yuko Hamaguchi, the leader of the Minseito, before a meeting of his party. Tokyo Asahi, Jan. 21, 1928, p. 1Google Scholar; Japan Chronicle, Jan. 26, 1928, p. 102Google Scholar. The party strength in the lower house was reported as follows: Minseito, 220; Seiyukai, 188; Shinsei Club, 25; Jitsugyo Doshikai, 8; Independents, 18; vacant seats, 5; total, 464. Osaka Mainichi, English edition, Jan. 20, 1928, p. 1Google Scholar.

3 Kwampo gogai (Imperial Gazette, extra edition), Jan. 22, 1928, pp. 10–14Google Scholar. Cf. Tokyo Asahi, Jan. 22, 1928, p. 1Google Scholar; Japan Chronicle, Jan. 26, 1928, p. 99Google Scholar.

4 The independent Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun, on Jan. 22, declared: “The procedure was distinctly unparliamentary and in contravention of fair play.”

5 Jiji Shimpo, Jan. 22, 1928, p. 3Google Scholar.

6 Jiji Shimpo, Jan. 22, 1928, p. 3Google Scholar; Japan Advertiser, Jan. 23, 1928, p. 1Google Scholar.

7 Cf. Tokyo Asahi, Feb. 18, 1928, p. 2Google Scholar.

8 Cf. Tokyo Asahi, Jan. 22, 1928, p. 2Google Scholar. For the past two years, the Shakai Minshūto have published a series of pamphlets selling for ten sen (five cents) apiece, discussing in dignified language the political and social problems of Japan and the reforms proposed by the Social Democrats. The Shakai Minshüto Koryo Kaisepsu, from the pen of Professor Abe, is the best known of these pamphlets.

9 For the platforms of these parties see Tokyo Asahi, Jan. 22 and 24, 1928, p. 2Google Scholar; Japan Advertiser, Jan. 23, 1928, p. 3Google Scholar. The party name, Nippon or Nihon Nominto, is commonly shortened to Nichinoto; Nihon Ronoto, to Nichiroto; and Rodo Nominto, to Ronoto.

10 The Jitsugyo Doshikai supported 30 candidates, and the Kakushin Club 17. Among the proletarian parties, the Shakai Minshüto offered 18; the Nippon Nominto, 11; the Nippon Ronoto, 14; and the Rodo Nominto, 12. Jiji Shimpo, Feb. 14, 1928, p. 2Google Scholar; Osaka Mainichi, Feb. 16, 1928, p. 1Google Scholar.

11 In the elections for the prefectural assemblies in September, 1927, the proletarian parties won 28 out of 1,485 seats, and polled 255,500 votes out of 6,296,114 votes cast. Tokyo Asahi, Oct. 18, 1927, p. 2Google Scholar; Japan Advertiser, Oct. 19, 1927, p. 3Google Scholar.

12 These proletarian party agreements did not hold in every case, notably in the fifth constituency of Tokyo. Cf. Japan Advertiser, Jan. 31, 1928, p. 1Google Scholar.

13 Genko Horei Shuran (1925), vol. I, bk. ii, sec. 3Google Scholar.

14 Osaka Mainichi, Jan. 31, 1928, p. 1Google Scholar; Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun, Feb. 1, 1928, p. 2Google Scholar; Japan Advertiser, Jan. 29, 1928, p. 1Google Scholar; Japan Chronicle, Feb. 2, 1928, p. 137Google Scholar.

15 Jiji Shimpo, Jan. 26, 1928, p. 2Google Scholar; Tokyo Asahi, Jan. 25, 1928, p. 2Google Scholar; Tokyo Hochi Shimbun, Jan. 26, 1928, p. 2Google Scholar.

16 Japan Advertiser, Feb. 17, 1928, p. 1Google Scholar.

17 Jiji Shimpo, Feb. 12, 1928, p. 3Google Scholar; Tokyo Asahi, Feb. 16, 1928, p. 1Google Scholar.

18 Tokyo Asahi, Oct. 18, 1927, p. 2Google Scholar. Japan Advertiser, Oct. 19, 1927, p. 1Google Scholar.

19 Copies of these posters are found in the Tokyo Asahi, Feb. 8, 1928, p. 2Google Scholar, and Japan Advertiser, Feb. 8, 1928, p. 3Google Scholar.

20 Cablegram, dated Feb. 24, from the intelligence bureau of the Foreign Office to the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D. C.

21 Japan Year Book, 1927 (ed. Takenobu, Y.), p. 90Google Scholar.

22 Constitutional Year Book (London, 1927), p. 272Google Scholar. In the United States, under the census of 1920, there were 56,371,027 citizens above twenty-one years of age, and in the election of 1924 only 29,022,261 of them voted. Cf. U. S. statistical Abstract, 1926, pp. 18, 156Google Scholar.

23 Jiji Shimpo, Feb. 25, 1928, p. 2Google Scholar. These figures are the same as announced to the Emperor on February 24 by Premier Tanaka. The Minseito, however, claimed 217 seats, and conceded an equal number to the Seiyukai. Tokyo Asahi, Feb. 25, 1928, p. 2Google Scholar. The discrepancy is due to the fact that each party counts upon the support of certain independent members. On April 4, statements filed with the secretariat of the House of Representatives indicated that the Seiyukai held 217 seats; the Minseito, 216; the Jitsugyo Doshikai, 4; the Kakushin Club, 3; the proletarian parties, 8; independents, 17; and one vacancy; total 466. Japanese American News (San Francisco), April 4, 1928, p. 1Google Scholar. An exact analysis of party strength is not possible until the Diet meets. According to the announcement of the Home Department the popular vote was as follows: Seiyukai, 4,274,858, and 237,851 for affiliated independents, making 45.7 per cent of the total; Minseito, 4,201,219, and 74,748 for affiliated independents, or 43.4 per cent; Jitsugyo Doshikai, 163,333, or 1.6 per cent; Kakushin Club, 81,336, or 0.8 per cent; Shakai Minshuto, 120,039, or 1.2 per cent; Nippon Nominto, 36,491, or 0.4 per cent; Nippon Ronoto, 93,400, or 0.9 per cent; Rodo Nominto, 188,141, or 1.9 per cent; Chiho Musanto, a local proletarian party, 46,766, or 0.5 per cent; independents, 353,565, or 3.6 per cent. Total vote, 9,862,744. Jiji Shimpo, Feb. 25, 1928, p. 3Google Scholar.

24 The proletarian seats are held as follows: Shakai Minshüto, 4; Nippon Ronoto, 1; Rodo Nominto, 2; and Chiho Musanto, a local proletarian party, 1. Both Professor Abe and Suzuki Bunji won seats, the one in Tokyo, the other in Osaka. Professor Ikuo Oyama, leader of the Rodo Nominto, was defeated in Kagawa.

25 Compare Tokyo Asahi, Feb. 20, 1928, p. 3Google Scholar; also editorials in the vernacular press quoted in the Japan Advertiser, Feb. 22 and 23, 1928.

26 Tokyo Asahi, Mar. 10, 1928, p. 2Google Scholar; Jiji Shimpo, Mar. 13 and 15, 1928, p. 2Google Scholar.

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