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Sonno joi, "Restore the Emperor and expel the Barbarians,"

was the battle cry that ushered in the Showa Restoration in Japan

during the 1930's.Footnote1 The Showa Restoration was a combination of

Japanese nationalism, Japanese expansionism, and Japanese militarism

all carried out in the name of the Showa Emperor, Hirohito. Unlike the

Meiji Restoration, the Showa Restoration was not a resurrection of the

Emperor's powerFootnote2, instead it was aimed at restoring Japan's

prestige. During the 1920's, Japan appeared to be developing a

democratic and peaceful government. It had a quasi-democratic

governmental body, the Diet,Footnote3 and voting rights were extended

to all male citizens.Footnote4 Yet, underneath this seemingly placid

surface, lurked momentous problems that lead to the Showa Restoration.

The transition that Japan made from its parliamentary government of

the 1920's to the Showa Restoration and military dictatorship of the

late 1930s was not a sudden transformation. Liberal forces were not

toppled by a coup overnight. Instead, it was gradual, feed by

a complex combination of internal and external factors.

The history that links the constitutional settlement of 1889

to the Showa Restoration in the 1930s is not an easy story to relate.

The transformation in Japan's governmental structure involved; the

historical period between 1868 and 1912 that preceded the Showa

Restoration. This period of democratic reforms was an underlying cause

of the militarist reaction that lead to the Showa Restoration. The

transformation was also feed by several immediate causes; such as, the

downturn in the global economy in 1929Footnote5 and the...