way signs, which had once been bilingual, were remade with the English omitted. Students in the men’s higher schools and universities, which had been noted for their independence of thought, were forced into the same patterns of rote memorizing as pupils in lower schools; participation by women in the intellectual life of the nation was discouraged; freedom of expression in newspapers and journals was curbed even more rigorously than before; and a rather successful attempt was made to have the people replace rational thought on political and social problems with the use of almost mystic phrases, such as “national crisis,” “Japanese spirit,” and “national structure.”
The militarists also sanctioned and encouraged a veritable witchhunt for all persons whose slightest word or deed could be construed to be lèse majesté. Liberal educators were forced to resign their academic positions on the grounds that they had handled the imperial rescript on education improperly, and leading statesmen were driven out of political life because of some unfortunate historical allusion involving an emperor. Professor Minobe, a leading authority on constitutional law and a member of the House of Peers, was sent into dishonorable retirement because he had described the emperor as an “organ” of the state. Social scientists, liberal educators, and moderate politicians soon learned to remain silent if they could not express themselves in the mystical terms of ultra-nationalism and abject devotion to the emperor.
Party politicians, of course, fought bitterly to preserve their hold on the government, but the only method they knew was through the ballot-box, and