In advance of the conqueror, Japan began to go through the motions of reaching for democracy.
The peacemaking Government of Premier Prince Naruhiko-Higashi-Kuni decreedfor what it was worth to the outside worldthat autocracy was out, democracy in. An extraordinary "epochmaking" session of the Diet was summoned for Sept. 4 to legalize the shift. The influential Nippon Times editorialized urgently: "The old order is finished and the work of building a new world must be started immediately."
In short order the Government: abolished compulsory military service, proclaimed the freedom of the press "after the nation...
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