The Establishment of the Japanese Constitutional System

Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Japan adopted many Western practices and institutions, including a constitution in 1889.The Establishment of the Japanese Constitutional Systemis an authoritative account of the establishment of the constitutional government in Japan during the 1890s and discusses how the Constitution actually worked during its first decade. Junji Banno analyzes the constitutional framework and the economic interests of the key supporters of the popular parties. An intensely political story, full of power struggles and the clash of interests, it tells how political experience was accumulated by government leaders and party politicians in these formative years.