Japan — the First World War and Taishō democracy
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Question
What economic change did WWI bring to Japan?
Answer
Japan boomed by supplying the Allies and expanding into Asian markets abandoned by European exporters, turning Japan from a debtor into a creditor nation by 1918.
Question
Twenty-One Demands
Answer
Secret list of demands Japan presented to China in January 1915, seeking control over Shandong, Manchuria, key industries, and political influence; China resisted the harshest Group 5.
Question
What did Japan gain at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference?
Answer
A seat among the 'Big Five' powers, confirmed rights in Shandong, Pacific island mandates, and a permanent seat on the League of Nations Council.
Question
What happened to Japan's racial equality clause proposal?
Answer
It won majority support at the Paris conference but chair Woodrow Wilson ruled it needed unanimity, so it failed — seen by many Japanese as proof of continued Western condescension.
Question
Taishō democracy
Answer
Period (1912–26) of Japan's fullest pre-war experiment in party-led, more representative government, named after Emperor Taishō.
Question
Hara Takashi
Answer
Became Japan's first commoner and first party-based prime minister in 1918, marking the start of party cabinets.
Question
1925 General Election Law
Answer
Gave the vote to all men aged 25+ regardless of tax paid, expanding the electorate roughly fourfold from about 3 million to 12.5 million; women remained excluded.
Question
Peace Preservation Law (1925)
Answer
Banned any group seeking to change the imperial political system (kokutai) or abolish private property; passed the same year as universal male suffrage.
Question
Process: how did the 1923 earthquake damage Japan beyond the immediate deaths?
Answer
It killed 100,000+ people, triggered a massacre of Korean (and some Chinese/leftist) residents amid false rumours, and left banks holding bad debt that weakened the economy before 1929.
Question
Why did the Great Depression hit Japan especially hard from 1929?
Answer
Japan's economy depended heavily on silk exports to the US; when American demand collapsed, rural families lost their main cash income, causing severe rural crisis.
Question
Comparison: suffrage expansion vs Peace Preservation Law, both 1925
Answer
Suffrage widened WHO could vote (more participation); the Peace Preservation Law narrowed WHAT could be argued for politically (less freedom) — passed in the same year.
Question
How did the Depression affect Japanese politics?
Answer
It discredited party-cabinet politicians, seen as tied to big business zaibatsu, and strengthened arguments from the military and ultranationalists for stronger, less democratic leadership.
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Topic 12.9 hub
Politics and economy in Japan (1912–2020)
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