Empire of Japan

===Taishō era (1912–1926)===
[[File:Emperor Taishō.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Emperor Taishō]], the 123rd emperor of Japan]]
{{Main|Taishō period}}

====World War I====
{{Main|Japan during World War I|Japanese entry into World War I|Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I}}
{{see also|South Seas Mandate}}

Japan entered [[World War I]] on the side of the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] in 1914, seizing the opportunity of Germany's distraction with the European War to expand its sphere of influence in China and the Pacific. Japan declared war on Germany on August 23, 1914. Japanese and allied British Empire forces soon moved to occupy Tsingtao fortress, the German East Asia Squadron base, German-leased territories in China's [[Shandong|Shandong Province]] as well as the [[Marianas]], [[Caroline Islands|Caroline]], and [[Marshall Islands]] in the Pacific, which were part of [[German New Guinea]]. The swift invasion in the German territory of the [[Kiautschou Bay concession]] and the [[Siege of Tsingtao]] proved successful. The German colonial troops surrendered on November 7, 1914, and Japan gained the German holdings. In 1920, the [[League of Nations]] established the South Seas Mandate under Japanese administration to replace German New Guinea.

With its Western allies, notably the United Kingdom, heavily involved in the war in Europe, Japan [[Japan during World War I#Events of 1917|dispatched a Naval fleet]] to the [[Mediterranean Sea]] to aid Allied shipping. Japan sought further to consolidate its position in China by presenting the [[Twenty-One Demands]] to China in January 1915. In the face of slow negotiations with the Chinese government, widespread [[anti-Japanese sentiment in China]], and international condemnation, Japan withdrew the final group of demands, and treaties were signed in May 1915. The [[Anglo-Japanese Alliance]] was renewed and expanded in scope twice, in 1905 and 1911, before its demise in 1921. It was officially terminated in 1923.

====Siberian Intervention====
[[File:Major General Graves, U.S.A., Gen. Otani, Japanese Army, and Staff, Vladivostok, Siberia., ca. 1918 - ca. 1919 - NARA - 533738.jpg|thumb|Commanding Officers and Chiefs of Staff of the Allied Military Mission to [[Siberia]], [[Vladivostok]] during the [[Siberian intervention|Allied intervention]]]]

{{Main|Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|Siberian Intervention|Japanese intervention in Siberia}}

After the fall of the Tsarist regime and the later provisional regime in 1917, the new [[Bolshevik]] [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|government]] signed a separate peace [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk|treaty]] with Germany. After this, various factions that succeeded the Russian Empire fought amongst themselves in [[Russian Civil War|a multi-sided civil war]].

In July 1918, President Wilson asked the Japanese government to supply 7,000 troops as part of an international coalition of 25,000 troops planned to support the [[American Expeditionary Force Siberia]]. Prime Minister [[Terauchi Masatake]] agreed to send 12,000 troops but under the Japanese command rather than as part of an international coalition. The Japanese had several hidden motives for the venture, which included an intense hostility and fear of communism; a determination to recoup historical losses to Russia; and the desire to settle the ''"northern problem"'' in Japan's security, either through the creation of a buffer state or through outright territorial acquisition.

By November 1918, more than 70,000 [[Imperial Japanese Army|Japanese troops]] under Chief of Staff Yui Mitsue had occupied all ports and major towns in the [[Primorsky Krai|Russian Maritime Provinces]] and eastern [[Siberia]]. Japan received 765 [[Polish people|Polish]] orphans from Siberia.<ref>{{cite web |title=Question 1917年（大正6年）のロシア革命時に、シベリアに在留していたポーランド孤児を日本政府が救済したことについて調べています。 |publisher=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan]] |url=http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/annai/honsho/shiryo/qa/taisho_01.html#0908_02 |access-date=October 3, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Polish orphans |publisher=[[Tsuruga, Fukui|Tsuruga city]] |url=http://www.city.tsuruga.lg.jp/sypher/free/kk-museum/polish-orhpans/polish-orhpans.html |access-date=October 3, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101112081121/http://www.city.tsuruga.lg.jp/sypher/free/kk-museum/polish-orhpans/polish-orhpans.html |archive-date=November 12, 2010}}</ref>

In June 1920, around 450 Japanese civilians and 350 Japanese soldiers, along with Russian White Army supporters, were massacred by partisan forces associated with the [[Red Army]] at [[Nikolayevsk Incident|Nikolayevsk on the Amur River]]; the United States and its allied coalition partners consequently withdrew from Vladivostok after the capture and execution of White Army leader Admiral [[Aleksandr Kolchak]] by the Red Army. However, the Japanese decided to stay, primarily due to fears of the spread of Communism so close to Japan and Japanese-controlled Korea and Manchuria. The Japanese army provided military support to the Japanese-backed [[Provisional Priamurye Government]] based in Vladivostok against the Moscow-backed [[Far Eastern Republic]].

The continued Japanese presence concerned the United States, which suspected that Japan had territorial designs on Siberia and the Russian Far East. Subjected to intense diplomatic pressure by the United States and United Kingdom, and facing increasing domestic opposition due to the economic and human cost, the administration of Prime Minister [[Katō Tomosaburō]] withdrew the Japanese forces in October 1922. Japanese casualties from the expedition were 5,000 dead from combat or illness, with the expedition costing over 900&nbsp;million yen.

===="Taishō Democracy"====
[[File:Itagaki Taisuke.jpg|thumb|upright|Count [[Itagaki Taisuke]] is credited as being the first Japanese party leader and an important force for liberalism in Meiji Japan.]]

The two-party political system that had been developing in Japan since the turn of the century came of age after World War&nbsp;I, giving rise to the nickname for the period, "[[Taishō Democracy]]". The public grew disillusioned with the growing national debt and the new election laws, which retained the old minimum tax qualifications for voters. Calls were raised for universal suffrage and the dismantling of the old political party network. Students, university professors, and journalists, bolstered by labor unions and inspired by a variety of democratic, socialist, communist, anarchist, and other thoughts, mounted large but orderly public demonstrations in favor of universal male suffrage in 1919 and 1920.

On 1 September 1923, at a magnitude of 7.9, an [[Great Kantō Earthquake|earthquake struck Kantō Plain]]. The death toll was estimated to have exceeded to 140,000 lives lost. On the same day, the Imperial Japanese Army and its nationalists committed a [[Kantō Massacre|massacre]] of Korean residents.

The election of [[Katō Takaaki|Katō Komei]] as Prime Minister of Japan continued democratic reforms that had been advocated by influential individuals on the left. This culminated in the passage of universal male suffrage in March 1925. This bill gave all male subjects over the age of 25 the right to vote, provided they had lived in their electoral districts for at least one year and were not homeless. The electorate thereby increased from 3.3&nbsp;million to 12.5&nbsp;million.<ref>Hane, Mikiso, ''Modern Japan: A Historical Survey'' (Oxford: Westview Press, 1992) 234.</ref>

In the political milieu of the day, there was a proliferation of new parties, including socialist and communist parties. Fear of a broader electorate, left-wing power, and the growing social change led to the passage of the [[Peace Preservation Law]] in 1925, which forbade any change in the political structure or the abolition of private property.

In 1932, Park Chun-kum was elected to the House of Representatives in the [[Japanese general election, 1932|Japanese general election]] as the first person elected from a colonial background.{{clarify|date=July 2013}}<ref name="shugiin150">{{cite web |date=November 16, 2000 |title=第150回国会 政治倫理の確立及び公職選挙法改正に関する特別委員会 第12号 平成12年11月16日（木曜日） |url=http://www.shugiin.go.jp/itdb_kaigiroku.nsf/html/kaigiroku/007115020001116012.htm?OpenDocument |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928200616/http://www.shugiin.go.jp/itdb_kaigiroku.nsf/html/kaigiroku/007115020001116012.htm?OpenDocument |archive-date=September 28, 2011 |access-date=October 10, 2009 |publisher=House of Representatives of Japan}}</ref> In 1935, democracy was introduced in Taiwan and in response to Taiwanese public opinion, local assemblies were established.<ref name="nittaikyo">{{cite web |title=戦間期台湾地方選挙に関する考察 |url=http://www.nittaikyo-ei.join-us.jp/koichi.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411052847/http://www.nittaikyo-ei.join-us.jp/koichi.html |archive-date=April 11, 2008 |access-date=October 10, 2009 |work=古市利雄 |publisher=台湾研究フォーラム 【台湾研究論壇】}}</ref> In 1942, 38 colonial people were elected to local assemblies of the Japanese homeland.<ref name="shugiin150" />

Unstable coalitions and divisiveness in the Diet led the [[Kenseikai]] ({{lang|ja|憲政会}} ''Constitutional Government Association'') and the Seiyū Hontō ({{lang|ja|政友本党}} ''True Seiyūkai'') to merge as the [[Constitutional Democratic Party (Japan)|Rikken Minseitō]] ({{lang|ja|立憲民政党}} ''Constitutional Democratic Party'') in 1927. The [[Rikken Minseitō]] platform was committed to the parliamentary system, democratic politics, and world peace. Thereafter, until 1932, the [[Rikken Seiyūkai|Seiyūkai]] and the Rikken Minseitō alternated in power.

Despite the political realignments and hope for more orderly government, domestic economic crises plagued whichever party held power. Fiscal austerity programs and appeals for public support of such conservative government policies as the Peace Preservation Law—including reminders of the moral obligation to make sacrifices for the emperor and the state—were attempted as solutions.