In the post-World War I period, Japan found herself without political friends. While Soviet Union, Germany and China grudged Japan because she had deprived them of their territories, the victorious Allies also grew distrustful of Japan. They exerted pressure on Japan to sign the Nine Fower Treaty in 1922.
This treaty signed by Britain, U.S.A., France, Belgium, China, Japan, Italy, Holland and Portugal bound the signatories to respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of China. All these powers agreed to refrain from securing special privileges of any kind in China and also to help China to develop a strong and stable government. This treaty also recognized equal trade rights of all countries in China.
By another treaty Japan was made to restore Shantung to China in return for a huge amount of compensation. However, Japan was permitted to retain control over Shing Tao Railways. In short the Washington Conference of 1922 checked the growing naval power of Japan and made her surrender some of the gains of the First World War.
However, Japan reconciled with these setbacks and tried to develop co-operation with USA and China because it wanted to exploit their markets. To reconciliate China, Japan even restored Kiao-Chow to her and closed down all Japanese post offices in China. In 1928 Japan signed the Kellogg Briand Pact which outlawed war.
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Two years later Japan signed the London Naval Agreement to lighten the burden of armaments. All this did not find approval with the nationalists, particularly the military officers, and they stepped up propaganda against the government and advocated an aggressive policy which ultimately ultimated in the Manchurian adventure.
At the domestic front the rapid industrialization of Japan during the first two decades of the present century caused great dislocation in the lives of the Japanese and a large number of them were forced to shift to urban areas, where adequate facilities were not available.
The post-war trade recession in certain industries further added to the miseries of the working. There were large-scale strikes, lockouts and demonstrations in 1921. In view of the growing unemployment, the workers had to give a tough fight to maintain their levels of employment.
The countryside was affected even more adversely. As a consequence of the trade recession the price of a Kokii of rice fell from 55 Yen in 1920 to 25:5 Yen in 1921. Even the wholesale index considerably dropped.
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This caused untold hardship to the poor farmers. No doubt, the government tried to provide some relief to the peasants through price support programmes, but the competition from the colonial rice growers (which the government was obliged to import for the sake of urban poor) nullified the impact of the relief measures. Further, as the tenant farmers were required to pay rents in kind this added to their miseries.
Before the war, these tenants did not feel the pinch of the rent laws because there was rapid expansion of the agrarian production. But in the post-World War I period the agrarian production slowed down and the tenancy agreements became focus of rising tension. This resulted in the formation of tenants unions.
The above conditions in the rural and the urban areas were quite conducive to the growth of militaristic nationalism. The other important factors which encouraged the Left Wing activities were revolutions in Russia and Germany. The plan for the militaristic nationalism was provided by the western literature.
Prof. K.M Pannikar has summed up the causes of the rise of military nationalism in Japan thus.
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“With disillusionment in respect of the West, following the Washington Treaty and the social and economic disturbances caused by the changeover to an industrialized society, with the depression which affected the peasantry from whom the armed forces were recruited the doctrine of pure Shinto revived again in a new form.”