Japanese Political History since 1850 Quiz

Answer: Townsend Harris

Perry opened Japan in 1853. MacArthur operated the Supreme Command for the Allied Power (SCAP) which occupied Japan in the post war period and Hearn was a Greek-born American writer who became a Japanese citizen. Townsend Harris was a New York China trader and founder of the City College of New York. A movie was made about him called "The Barbarian and the Geisha" starring John Wayne.

Answer: Eisaku Sato

Katsura was the longest serving in Japanese history... a total of 12 years in three intervals. Yoshida was the third longest serving and the grandfather of Prime Minister Taro Aso. Kishi was the old brother of Sato and the grandfather of Prime Minister Shunzo Abe. You get the picture.

It's essentially a family run business with about 80% of the Japanese Parliament having relatives who served there.

Answer: 24 US Military personnel in February 1946

The Constitution of post war Japan was an American production. It was drafted by 23 men and one American woman. She wrote a fascinating book called "The Only Woman in the Room" in which she describes her struggle to ensure an equal rights amendment for women in the modern Japanese Constitution. Beate Sirota Gorden was the only Japanese speaker in the group.

Answer: Isoroku Yamamoto

Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji) is known as the world's first novel and it was written by Lady Murasaki in the Heian Period. Tojo was the World War 2 Generalissimo. Yamashita aka "The Tiger of Malaya" although opposed to war in China and favoring good relations with the UK and US was a brilliant military strategist against both countries.

Answer: The Liberal Democratic Party

The LDP had been in power almost continuously since the creation of the so-called "1955 System." The JSP was the principle opposition party in Japan until the early 1990s. The Greens have no seats in the Diet and there is no "Sakura" or Cherry Blossom political party in Japan.

Answer: Kakuei Tanaka

In 1948, Tanaka set up the "Etsuzankai" which commemorated a mountain in his Niigata district. That was the start. Ohira was Prime Minister between 1978 and 1980. He died suddenly in office. Nakasone was Prime Minister of Japan between 1982-1987. Ikeda was PM between 1961 and 1964 and also died in office.

Answer: Kei Hara

Hara (sometimes referred to as Takashi Hara) became Prime Minister in 1918 and was assassinated in 1921. He was not part of the nobility. Yamamura was an actor who played Isoroku Yamamoto in the movie "Tora, Tora, Tora." Prince Konoye was Prime Minister twice the last time ending in October 1941 and succeeded by General Tojo. Suzuki was the 70th Prime Minister of Japan and was in office from 1980-1982.

Answer: The February 26 incident (ni-ni-roku jiken)

The February 26 incident involved a group of soldiers known as the "Kodoha" or Imperial Way faction staging an attempted coup d'etat against the sitting government. It was put down after several days supported by an another military faction known as the "Toseiha" or Control Faction. The subsequent trial turned into a farce. The end result was the militarist managed to gain the upper hand.

The Meiji Constitution was created in 1890 which was long before the hard core militarists came to power. The Panay Incident was the sinking of a U.S. patrol boat in the Yangtze River in China by the Japanese military after the war with China began in 1937. The 1940 Olympics were supposed to have been staged in Tokyo in 1940 but were cancelled due to the spread of war in Europe and Asia.

Answer: Eisuke Sato and Richard Nixon

The reversion of Okinawa to Japan under Sato and Nixon was almost derailed because of a bitter dispute over bilateral textile trade. Reversion took place in 1972. Nakasone was one of the longer serving Japanese Prime Ministers, from 1982-87. He and President Reagan called each other by their first names which because known as the "Ron-Yasu" relationship. Yoshida was another long serving Prime Minister. Okinawa had not yet become a major issue when he and Eisenhower were heads of their countries. Okinawa reversion had long since been resolved by the time Koizumi and Bush 43 were Prime Minister and President.

Instead they faced another Okinawa issue, namely negotiations to agree upon reducing the number of Marines on the island.

Answer: True

The Emperor Meiji was succeeded by his son, posthumously known as Taisho. Taisho was in ill health and suffered from mental disorders. He famously scrolled the Imperial Rescript before the opening of one annual session of the Diet and used it like a spy glass to peer at the assembled members.

This weakness reduced the influence of the elders or Genro and increased to power of the Diet thus strengthening the elected order particularly after World War I. "Taisho Democracy" witnessed the development of a two party political system until the first Manchurian incident in 1928 which began Japan's descent into militarism.