Did Japan have a democracy before the Second World War?

Partly, yes. Between about 1905 and 1932 Japan had a real, if limited, democratic movement: elected politicians, party governments, labour unions and, from 1925, the vote for all adult men. Historians call the period Taishō Democracy, after the reign of Emperor Taishō. It was not a democracy in today's sense, it did not last, and historians still argue about how deep it went.

The seeds were planted by the Meiji Constitution of 1889, which gave supreme sovereignty to the emperor but also created an elected House of Representatives. By 1905 over 95 percent of school-age children were in school, and cheap anti-government newspapers mixed patriotism with calls for a greater popular role in politics.

The era opened with a riot. When the Treaty of Portsmouth ended the war with Russia on terms many found disappointing, tens of thousands of angry citizens overwhelmed the police at Hibiya Park, and rioting swept Tokyo for three days. The rioters were not rejecting the emperor or the empire. They combined loyalty to both with a demand that the government respect the popular will.

Before all this, a small oligarchy of elder statesmen, the genrō, held the real power. Parties then grew from protest groups into contenders for power. In 1918 Hara Takashi formed the first true party cabinet, and in 1925 a new law gave all men the vote, expanding the electorate fourfold. In the same year the Peace Preservation Law targeted leftist radicals.

The limits were built in. The military answered only to the emperor, not to the Diet or even the prime minister, so it could defy civilian governments. After assassinations, including that of Prime Minister Inukai in 1932, party cabinets gave way to cabinets dominated by bureaucrats and military leaders.