Inukai Tsuyoshi

Inukai Tsuyoshi (1855–1932) was a Japanese politician and Prime Minister revered throughout Japan as the 'God of Constitutional Politics' (Kensei no Kami). Educated at Keio University under Fukuzawa Yukichi, Inukai was elected to the Imperial Diet in the very first general election of 1890, winning re-election eighteen consecutive times across forty-two years of service.

A staunch advocate of parliamentary democracy, universal male suffrage, and peaceful civilian diplomacy, Inukai supported Sun Yat-sen and Asian republican revolutionaries while opposing military expansionism. Appointed Prime Minister in December 1931 amid the Manchurian Crisis, he attempted to negotiate a peaceful resolution with China and rein in the rogue Kwantung Army. On May 15, 1932, young radical imperial naval officers stormed the Prime Minister's official residence; when Inukai calmly replied 'If you talk it over, you will understand', the assassins answered 'Dialogue is useless' and shot him, ending pre-war Japanese party democracy.