This week, we tackle a political scandal from 1930s Japan to dig deeper into the question: just why did Japan’s system of parliamentary government and liberal democracy, which seemed to be flourishing in the 1920s, fall apart so quickly in the 1930s?
Sources
Mitchell, Richard H. Political Bribery in Japan
Mitchell, Richard H. Justice in Japan: The Notorious Teijin Scandal
Johnson, Chalmers. MITI and the Japanese Miracle
Szpilman, Christopher W.A. “Conservatism and its Enemies in Prewar Japan: The Case of Hiranuma Kiichiro and the Kokuhonsha.” Hitotsubashi Journal of Social Studies 30, No. 2 (December, 1998)
Images