was a journalist and politician in the Empire of Japan, known primarily for his involvement in far-right politics through his leadership of the Tōhōkai ("Far East Society") party, as well as his opposition to Hideki Tojo and eventual suicide under murky circumstances.
Born in the city of Fukuoka, Nakano went on to attend Waseda University for four years, writing a number of articles for the journal Nihon oyobi Nihonjin (Japan and the Japanese) before graduating in July 1909. In these and in other speeches and articles he would produce, he expressed his political views. Nakano maintained an opposition to Japan's establishment throughout his life, criticizing in turn oligarchs such as Katsura Tarō, the Seiyūkai cabinet of Baron Tanaka Giichi, and eventually Hideki Tojo, the last of which ultimately cost him his life. Despite this opposition, however, Nakano would remain committed to working within political parties and the diet, rejecting the violent coups and putsches of young officers. Of great influence on his political thought was the Ōyōmei tradition.Najita, T., & Harootunian, H. D. (1991). In The Cambridge History of Japan (Vol. 6, pp. 728–729), Cambridge Univ. Press. Embracing an intuitionist, autonomist view of the individual, Ōyōmei thought emphasized the following of what one identifies as "good" or "just", over wealth and obedience to corrupt authorities. In the case of Saigō Takamori, who Nakano held as a hero far greater than himself, Ōyōmei sanctified his rebellion against the Meiji Government as heroic.
In his views of the Meiji Restoration, Nakano viewed the event as the result of popular discontent at the Shogunate's despotic rule. But though the leaders of the restoration had been united in a heroic effort against despotic government, a split occurred in which men valuing liberty such as Saigō were sidelined and instead, the Meiji oligarchy allowed Western ideas to flood into the country, eroding Japan's unique spirit and creating a system of oligarchic-bureaucratic rule which was opposed to popular will.
During the 1st Constitutional Protection Movement, he relentlessly attacked the Katsura cabinet and the hanbatsu system of clique government as a writer at the Asahi Shimbun, earning him both a reputation as a liberal and the displeasure of the paper, leading him to launch the Tohojironsha paper in 1916. After election to the diet in 1920, Nakano would join a generation of younger, reformist politicians, eventually aligning with Inukai Tsuyoshi and the Kakushin Kurabu (Reform Club) in 1922, but later believed no serious change could be made outside of one of the two major parties and transfer to the Kenseikai in 1924. Following the Manchurian Incident, Nakano admired the plotters, contrasting their decisive action with the Tanaka cabinet's wavering between hardline policy and capitulation to the United States on China issues.
To form a strong government to deal with the climate of crisis in the early 1930s, Nakano first attempted to organize a union of the Seiyukai and Minseito, then organizing the Kokumin Domei (Citizens’ Alliance) political party with Adachi Kenzo when he failed. Due to disagreements between the two personalities, however, Nakano split to form the Tōhōkai in 1936. Eventually, he would join the Taisei Yokusankai, but left in late 1940 in protest over the restraints imposed on it by conservative forces, primarily the zaibatsu and party politicians. He would go on to become a vicious opponent of Tōjō Hideki and his cabinet before committing ritual suicide while under government pressure in 1943.
Biography Early life Nakano was born as Jintarō Nakano () in the city of Fukuoka, located in Kyushu, the first and eldest son of his family. His father, Taijirō Nakano, was a pawn shop owner from an impoverished samurai family.Saaler, S., & A., S. C. W. (2011). Pan-Asianism a Documentary History. Volume 2, 1920-present. Rowman & Littlefield. Page 45 His mother was Tora Nakano. Nakano would also have two brothers, Taisuke and Hideto, and two sisters, Teru and Mura.
From the ages of 5 to 14, Nakano attended primary school before graduating to attend Fukuoka Prefectural Shūyūkan. In his primary school years, he was described as a bright pupil. At the Shūyūkan, Nakano took an interest in Judo, but suffered a leg injury in his 1st year, forcing him to repeat it and preventing him from joining the military.Populist Nationalism in Pre-War Japan: A Biography of Nakano Seigo by Leslie Russel Oates, 1985, Page 5-6 He also began writing for his school magazine during this time, taking the pen name Masakata, and helped to establish a martial arts centre for pupils called Shimbukan.
In April 1905, Nakano enrolled at Waseda University, a prestigious private university located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, in Political Science. His father's business had gone bankrupt at the time, so in order to pay for his studies, he began to write for the journal Nihon oyobi Nihonjin (Japan and the Japanese), through which he became acquainted with Miyake Setsurei, the journal's owner. He also became acquainted with Mitsuru Tōyama, the most influential figure in the Genyōsha, a secret ultranationalist society. Though Nakano would never join the Genyōsha, he would retain ties to it and Tōyama throughout his life. He would graduate four years after his entry into Waseda in July 1909.
Career in Journalism After Nakano's graduation, he pursued a career in journalism as a way to eventually enter politics. He worked at the Nichi Nichi Shimbun for a short while before transferring to the larger and more famous Asahi Shimbun in 1911. Writing for the Asahi, he published his political views on matters, such as in “Politicians in and out of Office”, a writing in which he criticized Katsura Taro, a member of the aristocracy, and Saionji Kinmochi, another member of the aristocracy as well as the leader of the majority Seiyūkai party, for their arrangement in which when one resigned the office of Prime Minister, the other would take his place.Populist Nationalism in Pre-War Japan: A Biography of Nakano Seigo by Leslie Russel Oates, 1985, Page 9 During the Xinhai Revolution, Nakano expressed his support of the revolutionaries against the criticism of figures such as Yamagata Aritomo and travelled to Shanghai on a business trip, meeting Sun Yat-Sen.
When the Taishō Political Crisis began, Nakano used his position at the Asahi to become a scathing critic of Katsura Tarō and cabinet, compiling his letters into a book in 1913. Nakano's boldness at the paper had earned him many enemies in its management, however, and he was transferred to Korea that year.Saaler, S., & A., S. C. W. (2011). Pan-Asianism a Documentary History. Volume 2, 1920-present. Rowman & Littlefield. Page 47 While there, he criticized Governor Terauchi Masatake for his despotic rule of the colony. Nakano married Tamiko, the daughter of Miyake Setsurei, before he transferred to Korea.
In March 1915, Nakano finished his term in Korea and travelled to the United Kingdom. By this time, the 1st World War had begun. On his trip, he acquired a further distaste for the Western powers and belief in Pan-Asianism. What he saw in Britain he believed to be signs of decadence, and in 1917, he would write an article condemning the hypocrisy of the West, which preached justice and self-determination while perpetuating oppression in their colonies. So disappointed was Nakano that in 1916, he decided return to Japan earlier than planned by way of the United States of America.Populist Nationalism in Pre-War Japan: A Biography of Nakano Seigo by Leslie Russel Oates, 1985, Page 14
After returning to Japan, he left the Asahi and joined the Tohojironsha (Eastern Review) newspaper, of which he became Chief Editor.National Diet Library. (n.d.). Nakano, Seigo. Nakano, Seigo | Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures. https://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/304.html?c=0. The Tohojironsha and Nihon oyobi Nihonjin would also later merge due to the destruction of the Kantō Earthquake to form the paper Gakan (Our Views) in 1923. Through the Tohojironsha, he criticized the Ōkuma cabinet's Twenty-One Demands, supported the reunification of China's northern and southern governments through Japanese meditation, and supported the rice rioters. He also opposed the Siberian Intervention and urged recognition of the Soviet Russia, believing it would weaken the dominance of the Anglo-American bloc. In 1919, Nakano travelled to report on the peace conference at Versailles. Upon returning to Japan, he blasted the government's weakness in confronting the United States, in the process more than tripling the paper's circulation from 2000 to 7000.Populist Nationalism in Pre-War Japan: A Biography of Nakano Seigo by Leslie Russel Oates, 1985, Page 16
Rise in Politics In 1917, Nakano campaigned independently to win a diet seat in his hometown of Fukuoka, but failed. In 1920, he campaigned again. Now aided by greater fame from his writings at the Tohojironsha, the withdrawal of a rival candidate backed by the Black Dragon Society (which had taken a stance opposite to Nakano on Russia issues), and an expanded electorate, Nakano won a seat at the diet, becoming part of a new, reformist generation of Japanese politicians advocating national reconstruction. Hoping that the postwar discontent would allow new parties to compete with the two dominant parties of the day, the Seiyukai and Kenseikai, Nakano first joined the Mushozoku Kurabu (Independents' Club) in 1921, and one year later, the Kakushin Kurabu (Reform Club), both parties with a significant younger, progressive element, the latter of which dominated by Inukai Tsuyoshi, whom Nakano had fervently supported during the Taisho Political Crisis. Over time, however, Nakano had come to be frustrated with Inukai's repeated compromises with the establishment and also began to believe that by remaining in a minor party, he would be unable to affect any real change. In 1924, he joined the Kenseikai (Constitutional Politics Association), aligning himself with Adachi Kenzō's faction.Saaler, S., & A., S. C. W. (2011). Pan-Asianism a Documentary History. Volume 2, 1920-present. Rowman & Littlefield. Page 48
In 1927, the Kenseikai Wakatsuki cabinet called a truce with their rival, the Seiyūkai, officially out of respect for the beginning of the new emperor's reign but in truth over uncertainty over what results the nation's first elections under universal suffrage might bring. This move was criticized within the Kenseikai, leading to resignations which allowed Nakano to be appointed a finance ministry councillor. After the fall of the Wakatsuki cabinet later that year, however, Nakano would be forced to leave his post, and a new, Seiyūkai cabinet was formed by Baron Tanaka Giichi.Populist Nationalism in Pre-War Japan: A Biography of Nakano Seigo by Leslie Russel Oates, 1985, Page 27-28 Nakano would clash several times with Tanaka and his cabinet. Earlier in 1926, he had accused Tanaka of embezzling funds while war minister in the Siberian Intervention. During Tanaka's time as prime minister, Nakano would launch a barrage of criticism against the man, attacking him over his heavy-handed foreign policy towards China and Manchuria, as well as showing weakness before the United States.Populist Nationalism in Pre-War Japan: A Biography of Nakano Seigo by Leslie Russel Oates, 1985, Page 29