Taisho

Question 1

What were key points during taisho

Answer 1

World War 1

Bolshevik revolution

Versailles Treaty (racial equality clause debate)

League of nations formed

Washington Conference: Four Power Treaty (France, Great Britain Japan, U.S)

establishment of soviet union

Italian fascist party comes to power

Question 2

What was the taisho political crisis

Answer 2

Seyukai overthrows the cabinet

Defeated prime minister founds another political party

Presence of two parties in imperial diet made government more democratic (the military was also strengthened)

Question 3

What was Japans economy like during WWI

Answer 3

Economic boom (demand for industrial products, less competition from Europe)

Increased agricultural production

Increased industrial production

1918 Economic boom causes inflation, widening inequality

Question 4

What was japans place in world after WWI

Answer 4

1919 Treaty of Versailles
(Debate on racial equality clause)

1919-20 Formation of League of Nations

1921-2 Washington Conference: Four Power Treaty (France, Great Britain, Japan, U.S)

Question 5

What was taisho society like

Answer 5

Old middle class and new middle class in cities

Emerging social group and categories (Workers, students, working women, housewives)

Immigrants from colonies

Question 6

What was taisho culture like

Answer 6

Urbanization, modern social classes

High levels of literacy

Modern art

“Culture homes” (modern homes)

Question 7

What was the great kanto earthquake in 1923

Answer 7

570,000 dwelling destroyed in Tokyo (¾ of city)

Over 140,000 estimated dead

Question 8

What. was the aftermath of great kanto earthquake

Answer 8

Massacre of koreans

National recovery

International aid

Question 9

What happened during early showa (1926-36)

Answer 9

1925 Italian Fascist party dictatorship

1925 Universal suffrage law (all males 25 and older)

1925 Peace preservation law

1931 invasion of manchuria

1933 Japan leaves League of Nations

Question 10

What was Japans Economy like in 1930

Answer 10

Industrial output rises 82%

Japan’s exports nearly double

1937 military budget accounts for ¾ of government spending (⅓ in 1930)

State controlled capitalism

Question 11

What was early showa in 1937-45 like

Answer 11

promotion of “fundamentals of our national polity”

suppression of labor unions

Pearl harbor (start of pacific war)

initial success in war

end of war

Question 12

How did the war end

Answer 12

Daily air raids by US bombers from Nov 1994 to Aug 1945

Bombing of Tokyo (March 9-10, 1945)

Battle of okinawa (March-July 1945)

Atomic bombs
(August 6, 1945: Hiroshima)
(August 6, 1945: Nagasaki )

Emperor announces surrender
(August 15, 1945)

40% of japan’s urban area destroyed, nine million homeless