New History Textbook (Chapter 4 & 5) 2005 version - Bakumatsu Films

and other social change gained energy. The desire for democracy and international cooperation
increased. These trends are collectively referred to as Taisho Democracy.
This period also saw the birth of many labor unions, and disputes between tenant farmers and
landowners. In 1920, May Day was observed in Japan for the first time; labor and farmers’
movements gained force. The Zenkoku Suiheisha (National Levelers’ Association) was
established in 1922; the organization campaigned for the elimination of discrimination against the
burakumin (Japan’s underclass).
Feminist movements were organized; Hiratsuka Raicho helped win more advocates of women’s
suffrage. The Russian Revolution influenced Japanese intellectuals and students, many of whom
embraced Marxism.
The Regular Procedures of Constitutional Government
When Hara Takashi was assassinated by a thug in 1921, supporters of political party-government
had lost an effective leader. Succeeding cabinets were not political party-based until 1924, when a
three-party coalition Cabinet was formed, with Kato Takaaki as prime minister. During the next
eight years, the cabinet was formed by the president of the political party with a majority in the
lower house, and these procedures (regular procedures of a constitutional government) became
ensconced. In 1925, the Kato Cabinet succeeded in getting universal suffrage legislation enacted.
Now any male Japanese who had attained the age of 25 could vote, regardless of the amount of
taxes he paid. The first general election was held in 1928; Seiyukai won a majority.
66 Japan-U.S. Relations and the Washington Conference
How did Japan-U.S. relations change between the end of the Russo-Japanese War and the
mid-1920s?
A Shift in Japan-U.S. Relations
After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan was the leading nation in East Asia. The U.S., which had
occupied the Philippines, now had a rival in the Far East.
Unfortunately, immediately following the Russo-Japanese War, Japan-U.S. relations were marred
by racial discrimination. A movement had arisen on the West Coast of the U.S., especially in
California, claiming that the Japanese workers, who were conscientious and skillful, were stealing
their jobs, white Americans wanted to expel them. U.S. government officials demonstrated their
appreciation of the plight of the Japanese immigrants, but were unable to control anti-Japanese
agitation in the western states.
At the Paris Peace Conference, which followed World War I, Japan submitted a resolution to insert
a racial equality clause into the Covenant of the League of Nations. As Japan’s aim to obliterate the
racial discrimination of its immigrants, Australia and other nations that imposed limits on the
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