Striving For Imperial Democracy, 1905-1918

Background Information.

The continued presence of the Meiji Emperor helped Japanese make sense of the bewildering changes that took place in the country since 1868.  After his death in 1912, many Japanese felt disoriented and lost, wondering if what they built had been worth the cost.  Their plight was not helped by the fact that the new Taishō emperor was ill suited (by health reasons) for playing the vital symbolic role his father had played.  As result the evolution of Japanese society and politics was freer than it had been in the Meiji period.  This was the start of so-called Taishō democracy.

Japanese politics was based on the premise that all Japanese were equally subjects of the Emperor and that the “people’s will” and the “imperial will” were the same, i.e. what the Emperor wanted for the people was what the people wanted for the people.  The protestors who took to the streets in 1905 and continued to do so regularly until the Rice Riots of 1918 demanded a “responsible government” chosen from the majority party in Parliament.  Their calls for democracy were based on the notion that since Oligarchic bureaucrats could not harmonize the imperial and popular will, a democratically elected party cabinet should be given that chance.

What the people wanted above all was a nation that was strong and powerful.  The ultimate proof of that was the expansion of the Empire.  In 1910 Korea was annexed as a formal Japanese colony.  After the outbreak of World War One Japan, an ally of Great Britain, seized German possessions in China and throughout the south and central Pacific.  The preoccupation of the European powers promised even greater opportunities to establish Japanese power in the region and in August of 1918 the Japanese army intervened in Siberia, seizing three provinces in the Russian Far East.

But just as the Siberian Intervention was announced, the “Rice Riots,” the largest wave of mass protests in this period, swept Japan’s cities.  Ultimately troops had to be called out to suppress the demonstrators who protested against wartime inflation (especially the high cost of rice) and the continuing failure to institute a “responsible” government.  Finally the last of the Oligarchs, Yamagata Aritomo, was forced to select Hara Takashi, president of the majority party in parliament, as the new Prime Minister in September 1918.  Japan now had its first true democratic government.

Learning Goals.

1. Students will define the concept of Imperial Democracy (sometimes called Taishō Democracy);
2. Students will outline the forces that contributed to Japanese agitation for a greater say in how the empire was run;
3. Students will assess the effect of the death of the Meiji Emperor and the rise of the Taishō Emperor on many Japanese; and
4. Students will identify the new opportunities World War One created for Japan to increase its empire.

Standards.

Common Core Standards
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading

• Standard 2.  Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
• Standard 10.  Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

• Standard 1.  Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

1. McRel Standard 36.  Understands patterns of global change in the era of Western military and economic dominance from 1800 to 1914.
2. McRel Standard 37.  Understands major global trends from 1750 to 1914.
3. McRel Standard 38.  Understands reform, revolution, and social change in the world economy of the early 20th century.
4. McRel Standard 39.  Understands the causes and global consequences of World War I.
5. McRel Standard 40.  Understands the search for peace and stability throughout the world in the 1920s and 1930s.
6. McRel Standard 42.  Understands major global trends from 1900 to the end of World War II.

Key Concept.

The death of the Meiji emperor created a crisis for the Oligarchs and an opportunity for the democratic forces in Japan that led to Japan’s first truly democratic government.

Essential Question.

Why did the Japanese turn to democracy following the death of the Meiji Emperor?

Primary Source.

Ozaki Yukio’s Diet Speech during the Taishō Political Crisis, February 15 1913.  “[The Oligarchs] hide themselves behind the throne and snipe at their political enemies from ambush. The throne is their shield! Rescripts are their bullets!” Andrew Gordon’s A Modern History of Japan (Table 8.1, page 132)

Thought Questions.

1. How did Japanese react to the death of Emperor Meiji? What did his reign mean to them?
2. Why did Japanese protest against the government so frequently in this period and what did they want?
3. Why was Japan’s first political party cabinet formed in 1918?
4. What was the relationship of Japanese to their empire and their emperor?

Activities

Focus Activity Ideas.

Have students come up with answers to the following questions: Why do people riot? [Hunger, frustration, oppression, unresponsive government, injustice] Can riots ever be successful? How do riots change government policy? How do riots change the populace?

Main Lesson Activity Ideas.

1. Students will identify words the Japanese would associate with the Meiji Emperor, e.g. hero, leader, God, reformer, modernizer;
2. Students will discuss what the death of such a leader means to the people.  Compare-the death of the emperor to the deaths of JFK, Martin Luther King Jr.;
3. Students will list the various protests that took place following the death of the Meiji Emperor and outline their causes. (Rice prices; inflation) [See table in Andrew Gordon, Labor and Imperial Democracy in Prewar Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), pp. 27-28 and Gordon’s A Modern History of Japan (Table 8.1, page 132)]
4. Students will discuss how these problems discredited the Oligarchs and forced concessions from them;
5. Students will review the changes in Japan from the beginning of the Meiji era to the end, i.e. Japan went from a feudal society arranged around social status groups and iron bound hereditary practice to a modern industrial government, society and economy in less than 40 years. Much was gained but much was lost, and at the end many Japanese were uncertain if they had sacrificed too much of what made them Japanese to become modern; and
6. Students will identify four effects World War One had on East Asia, i.e. a general European retreat leaves opportunities for Japan to achieve regional dominance.

Summative Activity Ideas.

Create a chart that compares the before and after of the Meiji Imperial Period.  Below is a sample with some ideas included:

Resources.