The military did not ignore public opinion but instead met its expectations and skillfully pushed for war with popular support
February 25, 2018 
Since August four years ago, I have not read the reading section of the Asahi Shimbun, which is a complete change from what I had done before, to say nothing at all.
The other day, I stopped subscribing to the Asahi Shimbun, which I had been subscribing to for a long time. 
I switched to the Sankei Shimbun, as it is the job of professional speech writers to monitor the Asahi Shimbun.
Then, this morning, my attention was caught by the reading section of the Yomiuri, which I had started subscribing to before Sankei.
It is a fact that the Japanese people and the rest of the world should know.

Populism in Prewar Japan by Kiyotada Tsutsui
Reviewed by Satoshi Naraoka, political historian and professor at Kyoto University
The emphasis in the text other than the headline and *~* is mine.

The Cause that Paved the Way to War
There is a persistent view that prewar Japan was an oppressive society.
Many believe that militarism was born out of this and that the military went berserk and plunged the country into war.
These aspects certainly existed.
On the other hand, it is also true that Japan had achieved universal suffrage by the end of the Taisho era (1912-1926) and had made considerable progress in democratization.

*I have previously written that Mr. Senoo Kappa's masterpiece "Boy A" is the best war literature that conveys the reality of World War II.
Mr. Senoo Kappa spent the prewar and wartime years before and after being a student at an old junior high school in Kobe. 
His student life and friendships were like my high school life.
In other words, he wrote the reality and truth of his life as a student of the old junior high school in a brilliant and naturalistic way, in contrast to the "theory of the evil of Japan and the foolishness of the Japanese people" brainwashed by the GHQ and spread by the Asahi Shimbun and other media.
It is because it was a true masterpiece that perfectly revealed the bullshit of the Asahi Shimbun and others＊.

In addition, the military did not ignore public opinion but instead met its expectations and skillfully gained the support of the masses as it pushed forward with the war.
What was it, then, that led to the collapse of party politics in the early Showa period and the eventual doom of war?
This article continues.

2024/2/13 in Kyoto