Editing Inukai Tsuyoshi (section)

==Premiership (1931–1932)==
{{seealso|Inukai Cabinet}}
[[File:Tsuyoshi Inukai facing right.jpg|thumb|right|Inukai Tsuyoshi as Prime Minister]]
Following the resignation of the [[Wakatsuki Reijirō|Wakatsuki administration]] over its failure to control the military and the failure of its economic policies, [[Saionji Kinmochi]], Japan's sole surviving ''[[genrō]]'', turned to Inukai to form a new government in 1931. Following his appointment, Inukai was instructed by Saionji to avoid drastic changes in either foreign policy or economics. Already disadvantaged by the fact that his Seiyukai was not the majority party in the Diet, he was also saddled with a cabinet composed of competing factions, ranging from his ultra-rightist Army Minister [[Sadao Araki]] to the liberal Finance Minister [[Takahashi Korekiyo]]. With a divided cabinet and a hostile Diet, Inukai governed with the assistance of the [[Privy Council (Japan)|Privy Council]], which passed emergency imperial edicts and budgetary measures to circumvent the normal Diet budgetary process.<ref>Bix. Page 247.</ref>

Inukai immediately took steps to inflate the economy and to take Japan off the [[gold standard]], implementing protectionist trade policies and attempting to stem Japan's [[trade deficit]]. These actions devaluated the yen, thus lowering the price of Japanese goods in world markets, and increasing exports.

However, Inukai was forced to accede to a request by the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] to dispatch additional troops to Manchuria and to [[Tianjin]], despite instructions as late as 23 December 1931 from Emperor [[Hirohito]] to maintain international trust per the [[Nine-Power Treaty]] in not attacking China, and on 27 December 1931 not to authorize any moves by the [[Kwantung Army]] to occupy [[Jinzhou]]. However, by now the Imperial Japanese Army was completely beyond any civilian control and from January to March 1932 the conflict had spread to [[Shanghai]] with the [[January 28 Incident|1st Shanghai Incident]].<ref name="Bix. Page 249-252">Bix. Page 249–252.</ref>
During the [[1932 Japanese general election|1932 General Election]], buoyed by an upsurge in public opinion due to Japanese military successes in China, the Rikken Seiyukai won an overwhelming majority.

On 8 January 1932, a Korean independence activist named Lee Bong Chang attempted to assassinate Emperor Hirohito in the [[Sakuradamon Incident (1932)|Sakuradamon Incident]]. Inukai and his cabinet immediately offered their resignations; however, Hirohito wished to downplay the incident and refused.<ref name="Bix. Page 249-252"/>

However, Inukai still came under strong criticism for his efforts to rein in the military, while reformists criticized him for not going far enough. Inukai's efforts to limit further troop deployments to China and to defuse the Shanghai Incident through negotiations with the Chinese government drew increasing ire from the general public as well as the militarists. This soon metamorphosed into terrorist activity with the [[League of Blood Incident]] in which extremists targeted wealthy businessmen and liberal politicians. The group chose twenty victims but succeeded in killing only two: former [[Ministry of Finance (Japan)|Finance Minister]] and head of the ''[[Rikken Minseitō]]'', [[Junnosuke Inoue]], and Director-General of [[Mitsui|Mitsui Holding Company]], [[Dan Takuma]].

On 1 March, the state of [[Manchukuo]] was formally proclaimed. Symbolically, Inukai withheld formal [[diplomatic recognition]] as a gesture of displeasure against the radical faction within the Imperial Japanese Army, and out of concern due to the rapidly worsening international relations with the [[United States]], on which country Japan depended for much of its raw materials and capital investment.<ref name="Bix. Page 249-252"/>