Crisis Phase (November 14, 1930 – September 2, 1945): Prime Minister Yuko Hamaguchi was assassinated on November 14, 1930. Reijiro Wakatsuki was chosen as prime minister in April 1931, but his government collapsed in December 1931. Ki Inukai formed a government, and General Sadao Araki was appointed minister of war. The Japan National Socialist Party (JNSP) was established in April 1932, and the Japan State Socialist Party (JSSP) was established on May 29, 1932. Prime Minister Ki Inukai was assassinated by naval officers and army cadets on May 15, 1932, and Admiral Makoto Saito formed a government as prime minister. Admiral Keisuke Okada formed a government as prime minister on July 7, 1934. Soldiers unsuccessfully rebelled against the government in Tokyo on February 26-29, 1936. Thirteen military officers and four civilians were executed for their involvement in the rebellion on July 12, 1936. Koki Hirota formed a military-dominated government as prime minister on March 9, 1936, but his government collapsed on January 23, 1937. General Senjuro Hayashi formed a government as prime minister on February 22, 1937. rime Minister Hayashi dissolved the parliament on March 31, 1937, and parliamentary elections were held on April 30, 1937. Prime Minister Hayashi resigned on May 31, 1937, and Prince Fumumaro Konoye formed a government as prime minister on June 3, 1937. Prime Minister Fumumaro Konoye resigned, and Baron Kiijiro Hiranuma formed a government as prime minister on January 4, 1939. Prime Minister Kiijiro Hiranuma resigned on August 29, 1939, and General Noboyuki Abe formed a government as prime minister on August 30, 1939. Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai formed a government as prime minister on January 14, 1940, but he was replaced by Prince Fumumaro Konoye on July 16, 1940. Prime Minister Fumumaro Konoye resigned on October 17, 1940, and General Hideki Tojo formed a government as prime minister. Japanese military aircraft attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands on December 7, 1941. General Hideki Tojo resigned as prime minister on July 18, 1944, and General Kuniaki Koiso formed a government as prime minister. Japan agreed to surrender to Allied troops on August 14, 1945. Prince Higashikuni formed a government as prime minister on August 17, 1945. Japan surrendered to the Allied military forces on September 2, 1945. Some 100 individuals were killed during the crisis.
Post-Crisis Phase (September 3, 1945-April 29, 1952): General Douglas MacArthur was appointed Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) in Japan in September 1945. The Allied Council for Japan (ACJ), which consisted of representatives from Britain, China, Soviet Union, and the U.S., was established to temporarily administer the country beginning in September 1945. Kijuro Shidehara formed a government as prime minister in September 1945. The Commonwealth of Nations (CON) established the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) in Japan. The Allied Supreme Command (ASC) conducted a war crimes tribunal in Tokyo from April 10, 1946 to November 12, 1948. Parliamentary elections were held on April 10, 1946, and the Liberal Party (LP) won 139 seats in the House of Representatives. Prime Minister Shidehara resigned on April 22, 1946, and Yoshida Shigeru formed a coalition government as prime minister on May 22, 1946. A new constitution was approved in a referendum on November 3, 1946, and the constitution went into effect on May 3, 1947. The parliament was dissolved on March 31, 1947, and parliamentary elections were held between April 5 and April 25, 1947. The Socialist Party (SP) won 143 out of 466 seats in the House of Representatives, and the LP won 133 seats in the House of Representatives. The parliament convened on May 20, 1947, and Katayama Tetsu of the SP was elected prime minister of a coalition government on May 23, 1947. The government of Prime Minister Tetsu collapsed on February 10, 1948, and Ashida Hitoshi was elected prime minister on February 21, 1948. The Democratic Liberal Party (DLP) headed by Shigeru Yoshida was established on March 15, 1948. Parliamentary elections were held on January 23, 1949, and the DLP won 264 out of 466 seats in the House of Representatives. Government and Allied representatives (excluding the Soviet Union) formally signed a peace treaty on April 28, 1952, and the ACJ was dissolved on April 29, 1952.
[Sources: Facts on File, January 23-29, 1949; Langer, 1972, 1113-1114, 1344-1347.]
Selected Bibliography
Giffard, Sydney. 1994. Japan: Among the Powers, 1890-1990. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press.
Reischauer, Edwin O. 1965. “The Rise and Fall of Democratic Institutions in Prewar Japan,” In George O. Totten, editor.
Democracy in Prewar Japan: Groundwork or Facade. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath and Company.
Sladkovsky, M. I. 1975. China & Japan: Past and Present. Academic International Press.
Yanaga, Chitoshi. 1949. Japan Since Perry. New York, Toronto, and London: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.