In 1920, the country of Japan was beginning to show outward signs that it was embarking on a path towards political modernization and a model of relatively liberal democracy. Indeed, the previous decade had seen the nation's masses call for a 'constitutional government' and, by the beginning of the 1920's, elected politicians had come in from the peripheries to wield considerable, actual power. Rapid industrialization developed both a moneyed bourgeoisie and an urban proletariat, and trade unions and political organizations had begun to spring up at a greatly accelerate...

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