The Political History of Modern Japan by Kitaoka Shinichi

Author:Kitaoka Shinichi [Shinichi, Kitaoka]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Asia, Japan, Modern, General, Political Science, History & Theory, World, Asian, Social Science, Ethnic Studies, American, Asian American Studies, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9780429808463
Google: bjZyDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-10-10T03:40:02+00:00

12 The collapse of the empire

The Second Sino-Japanese War

Formation of the Hirota Cabinet

When the Okada Keisuke Cabinet resigned following the February 26 Incident (see Chapter 11), Hirota Kōki formed a new cabinet. The army interfered in the creation of the cabinet, opposing five potential members, such as Yoshida Shigeru (1878–1967), the candidate for foreign minister, claiming they were too inclined toward Britain and America. Three of these men ultimately withdrew. This interference by the army in the appointment of posts other than war minister was unprecedented.

At the time, the army leadership was concerned about the occurrence of another February 26 Incident. Its interference with the formation of the cabinet was a sign of the leadership’s lack of confidence in its ability to maintain internal discipline. This concern is also why the army attempted during its post-Incident purge to eliminate all politicized officers likely to cause internal instability. Those forced into the reserves thus included not just the members of the Imperial Way faction but also those in the Ugaki Kazushige faction that had opposed them. The restoration of the requirement that military ministers be active duty officers (see Chapter 9) was also intended to prevent the return of elements like the Imperial Way faction.

Both Ugaki and Araki Sadao had been officers possessing the ability to unify the army to a degree and to negotiate with the other groups in the government. Such men were eliminated in this purge, however, and external control of the army thus became considerably more difficult. With the ouster of the politicized officers and the increased bureaucratization of the army, checks on its demands became increasingly ineffective.

The greatest of these demands was for an increased budget to fund expansion. Finance Minister Takahashi Korekiyo had issued bonds during the Saitō Cabinet and put together an expansionary budget but had begun clamping down on the issuing of these bonds in 1934 due to concerns about inflation. Finance Minister Baba Eiichi (1879–1937) of the new Hirota Cabinet reversed Takahashi’s policies, however. He began to release bonds to fund military spending, embarking on an enormous expansion of the military. The budget for 1937 was 31.6 percent larger than that for 1936, with direct military spending accounting for 46 percent of the budget. Japan’s international balance of payments thus rapidly worsened, and financial policy began to become impossible. It was at this point that attempts to control the very movement of goods appeared.

Figure 12.1 Konoe Fumimaro. (Photograph provided by Jiji Press Photo.)

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