Talk:Taishō era

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Redirect

This page needs a redirect from the romaji spelling "Taishou," in case users search for the period without using a macron spelling. All other eras that I've checked have similar redirects ("shouwa" to the macroned version, for example), but if you input "taishou period" to the search box at the moment, you don't get this page as a result. I don't know how to do this, so I'm asking someone else to make the redirect.

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.135.96.110 (talk) 19:44, 24 February 2007 (UTC).

Formatting

could we keep article text linear, please? Maybe make a heading "key events" for what is curently in a drop-box. -- Tarquin 18:41 Mar 8, 2003 (UTC)

I know the box seems little fancy but, I think a kind of quick box is nice idea. Besides, a key event is different from heading. For example, Great Kanto Earthquake cannot be a key event. Key events show the important date, while headings indicate more abstract points. -- Taku 18:46 Mar 8, 2003 (UTC)

Or how about for paragraph two:

Key events of this period include A in 1913, B in 1924 and C.

the box creates complex markup, which we really want to avoid. -- Tarquin

Is that so? I thought articles using tables seems more complex. What does any one else think? -- Taku 18:54 Mar 8, 2003 (UTC)

Tables bad too! There's been talk of eventually setting something up so the table data is in a separate namespace or somthing (see the mailing list archive!). If this were paper and we were working with Quark Xpress, I'd say "yay! cool! great!". But it's wikitext. simplicity is key -- Tarquin 18:56 Mar 8, 2003 (UTC)

Reading this article, I'm worried that it might be plagurized. The references to chapters in particular is worrying. SJ Zero 01:01, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

It is plagiarized, but from a public domain document. It is from http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/jptoc.html Chapter 1, Between the Wars, 1920-36, Two-Party System —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.98.139.33 (talk) 03:13, August 27, 2007 (UTC)

Alternative to floated info blocks

Moved from Wikipedia:Village pump on Saturday, September 13th, 02003.

Someone's been putting floated DIVs in some history articles with a list of key events. Having a clear list of key points is good -- but the HTML bloat in the source required to produce the float is not worth it in my opinion (see my recent mailing list post on the matter). I've tried an alternative at Taisho period. What do people think? "In Detail" is a really yucky heading, so if anyone can think of better ... please do! -- Tarquin 15:35, 7 Sep 2003 (UTC)

That someone is me. Despite what I have been saying, now I complately concur with you. What particularly I like is that if a list of key events sits in a section, it is easy to edit that second with a new Wikipedia editing feature. -- Taku 17:09, 7 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Use of 'Taisho Democracy' as opposed to 'Imperial Democracy' in this article

Perhaps it should be noted the idea of 'Taisho democracy', as Andrew Gordon points out, is 'chronologically inaccurate and analytically empty'. By most accounts, the 'Taisho democracy' period began in 1905 with the Hibiya riot, and ended six years after the Taisho Emperor died in 1932. Gordon suggests 'Imperial Democracy' is more accurate, as a descriptive term for the period between 1905 to 1932, reflecting both the people's reverence of the Emperor and paradoxical thirst for better political engagement.

Perhaps I was a bit brief, considering how many times Taisho democracy was mentioned and relied upon in the article.

The use of the phrase 'Taisho democracy' seems to imply that the democratisation of Japan during this period was confined solely to the period when the Taisho Emperor was crowned. I would argue that this is not the case. Firstly, the Hibiya riot of 1905 and September 1906 riot suggest that what the movement wanted was being demanded even before the Taisho Emperor. From my understanding, the Hibiya riot initially was to express dissatisfaction with the Portsmouth treaty regarding reparations. Surely this gathering of people calling for a more accountable government, and expressing their anger at the action of the government, qualifies as democratic activity. When police stopped demonstrators from entering Hibiya park, the demonstration turned into a riot, which to me suggests people willing to fight for their democratic right of assembly. If this is democratic action, it proves then that it is outside the bounds of the 'Taisho democracy' period, thus it is an inaccurate label worth reconsidering.

There are arguments as well that 'Taisho democracy' extended up until 1932 where militarism took over, but I won't elaborate on these for the moment.

Secondly, the first half of the label is inaccurate. It implies people were loyal to Taisho, the individual, as opposed to the Imperial crown, or the institution of the Emperor. On the contrary, I would propose people were more loyal to the institution of the Emperor as opposed to the person filling the seat. If the Emperor's health was weak and his advisors were forced to cede power to the Diet due to the lack of influence from the Emperor, then surely people were not drawn to his charismatic personality as opposed to his symbolic position as inviolable and of direct descendant from the race of Gods. People felt entitled to the right of representation, having a 'direct line' to the Emperor, but at the same time acknowledged the divinity of the Emperor, as having 'conferred upon the people trust to make decisions'.

If this analysis is accurate, it seems then that 'Taisho democracy' is a misleading and inaccurate term to label the democratic development, constrained by Imperial institutions, in this era, and perhaps the use of this term should be re-evaluated in this context.

Economic effects of the Great Depression

The article states that Japan was largely unaffected by the Great Depression and that exports grew. There needs to be some citations here because, as I understand it, Japan was suffering severe balance of trade issues following the collapse of the worldwide silk trade. Edward S. Miller gives this good treatment in "Bankrupting the Enemy." Also, the lack of customers overseas and a lack of supply of raw materials from overseas suppliers, including, finally, oil, was a major cause for Japanese aggression in Asia throughout the 1930s which could not be explained by a favorable trade environment. All of this Great Depression talk is outside the timeline of Taisho rule anyway. Furthermore, any discussion of the economy of Japan in the 20s (and 30s) should include the rice riots and declining food supplies in Japan proper.

For a modern Japan course I need to edit an article I would like to source some of the information within this article. I also need to post a bibliography of some of the credible sources I have found. Bibliography Hoston, G. A. (1984). Marxism and national socialism in taishō Japan: The thought of Takabatake Motoyuki. The Journal of Asian Studies, 44(1), 43-64. Reischauer, E., & Craig, E. A. (1973). Tradition and Transformation. Bostons Houghton Mifflin Co. Shimbori, M. (1963). Comparison between pre-and post-war student movements in Japan. Sociology of Education, 59-70. BMcCann (talk) 15:51, 15 March 2018 (UTC)

Confusing wording in Equivalent Calendars section

Not by coincidence, Taishō year numbering just happens to be the same that of the Juche calendar of North Korea, and the Minguo calendar of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

"Just happens to be" implies coincidence, but the first clause explicitly says this is not by coincidence. I'd correct this myself, but I'm not sure which is correct. If it isn't a coincidence, there should be some explanation of what the connection is. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2405:6580:23E0:2500:F4BD:16FD:49A4:57D2 (talk) 06:46, 15 April 2018 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress

There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Reiwa period which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 03:20, 14 April 2019 (UTC)

Representations in Popular Culture

I'm not sure how to appropriately do this, since I'm not an editor. However, the end of this period is represented in the Miyazaki film "The Wind Rises," as the protagonist is born right at its end ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_Rises ) and is apparently the setting for the anime "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Slayer:_Kimetsu_no_Yaiba ). Should there be some kind of cross-referencing going here, for those curious about the period because of the aforementioned animations, and/or for those who find the article out of curiosity and want to see some fiction based on this period? Just throwing it out there. 64.188.186.51 (talk) 19:18, 2 September 2019 (UTC)

Citations

There are barely any citations in this article.