Definitions:
The Peace Preservation Law (Chian-ijihô) was passed in Japan in
1925 as a mechanism for the Imperial family to entrench itself against a growing
left wing. It forbade conspiracy or revolt against the kokutai, or national
essence, of Japan, and effectively criminalized socialism, communism, and other
ideologies that would threaten Japan's emperor-centered social order.
Peace preservation Law, April 12, 1925
Article 1
Anyone who organizes a group for the purpose of changing the national polity (kokutai) or of denying the private property system, or anyone who knowingly participates in said group, shall be sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment not exceeding ten years. An offense not actually carried out shall also be subject to punishment.Article 2
Anyone who consults with another person on matters relating to the implementation of these objectives described in clause 1 of the preceding article shall be sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment not exceeding seven years.Article 3
Anyone who instigates others for the purpose of implementing those objectives described in clause 1, article 1, shall be sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment not exceeding seven years.Article 4
Anyone who instigates others to engage in rioting or assault or other crimes inflicting harm on life, person, or property for the purpose of attaining the objectives of clause 1, article 1, shall be sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment not exceeding ten years.Article 5
Anyone who, for the purpose of committing those crimes described in clause 1, article 1, and in the preceding three articles, provides money and goods or other financial advantages for others, or makes an offer or commitment for same, shall be sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment not exceeding five years. Anyone who knowingly receives such considerations, or makes demand or commitment for same, shall be punished in a similar manner.Article 6
Anyone who has committed the crimes described in the three preceding articles and has surrendered himself voluntarily to the authorities shall have his sentence reduced or be granted immunity from prosecution.Article 7
This law shall be made applicable to anyone who commits crimes described in this law outside of the jurisdiction in which this law is in effect.
According to the Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, the Peace Peservation Law was the "central pillar of the system if ideological control established in the prewar period and served as the fraework for the creation of special techniques for handling 'thought criminals' (shisouhan)." Special Higher Police (the Tokko) were created to regulate the content of motion pictures, political meetings, and election campaigns.
The main thrust of the law was presented in article 1, which read: “Anyone who has formed an association with the objective of altering the kokutai or the system of private property, and anyone who has joined such an association with full knowledge of its object, shall be liable to imprisonment with or without hard labor for a term not exceeding ten years.” By the use of the highly enigmatic and emotional term kokutai—the political system, regarded as unique to Japan, embodied in the imperial line and the institutions supporting it—the Hiranuma clique blended politics and ethics in a traditional manner, turning dissent into a moral as well as a legal issue and undermining the liberal interpretation of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan.
Also, on Peace Preservation Law and Special Higher Police
The Peace Preservation Law (chian ijiho) was enacted in 1925, the same year as the law granting universal male voting rights, which it was intended to counterbalance. The law set punishments of up to ten years' imprisonment for anyone joining an organization whose intent was to alter the system of private property or the "national polity" (kokutai) of Japan, i.e., the emperor system. The law was modified twice, in 1928 and 1941, to both expand the range of prohibited activities and increase the severity of punishment to include the death penalty. The Peace Preservation Law was the principal tool for the suppression of dissident thought in Japan, with tens of thousands of detentions, arrests and prosecutions. Although the death penalty was never officially imposed, a number of detainees died from torture or suicide. Following Japan's defeat in World War II in 1945, the law was abolished by the occupation authorities.
Special Higher Police
Japan's Special Higher Police (Tokko) were established in 1911 with the mission to investigate political groups and ideologies that were seen as threatening by the governing authorities. These originally included anarchists, communists, socialists and foreigners living in Japan. The passage of the 1925 Peace Preservation Law resulted in a major expansion of the role played by the Special Higher Police and in 1928, following the first election held with universal male suffrage, they led a massive crack-down against leftist students and labor organizers. Following the 1931 Manchuria Incident which initiated direct Japanese military intervention on the Asian mainland, pacifists, liberals and religious groups were also targeted.
The Special Higher Police used widespread networks of spies and informants to gather information, bringing to bear various forms of pressure and intimidation against anyone who spoke out. Once detained as a "thought criminal," people were subjected to extreme psychological coercion and physical violence designed to extract a public confession and renunciation of the offending ideas; even if released, they could expect to live under constant surveillance and supervision. Until they were disbanded by the occupation forces in 1945, the Special Higher Police were the key agency for suppressing all thought or expression seen as disruptive of Japan's war effort.
See Also here for PPL
More On the Special Higher Police
Before the World War II, the government of Imperial
Japan had an organization of secret police, called Tokubetsu Koto Keisatsu, or "Tokko"
in short. The name itself means "special high police." It was establishedon August 21, 1911.
The Tokko's purpose was to suppress "dangerous thoughts," such as anti-emperor ideologies, anti-goverment movements, and in a sense was similar to the gestapo in NAZI Germany. Their primary targets were communists, socialists, anarchists, leftists, labor unions, various religious groups other than shinto, and Koreans living in Japan. Numerous innocent citizens were accused of transgressions against the emperor or of violating the Public Peace Act. The Tokko tortured and interrogated suspects so severely that many lives were lost. Reporting suspected violators was also encouraged.
Their official purpose was to regulate right wing movements; however, the Tokko itself inclined toward the politcal right. So many nationalists and yakuza were often left alone from Tokko suppression. In addition, some of these types of people were hired by the Tokko to harrass labor unions and Koreans.
The Tokko was independent of the normal police, and Tokko detectives could give orders to normal police detectives. So, quite often, Tokko and normal police
were
at odds with each other. The Tokko was secretive, and was greatly feared by
normal police detectives. Zaibatsu (megacorps) hated the Tokko, too. The Tokko did
not regard economic affairs very highly, so they would often break away from corporation's
control. Even high commanders of the army, who were the most powerful men in Japan in those days,
could not ignore the Tokko. The Tokko was dessolved on October 4, 1945, by the direct
order of
Douglas MacArthur, the commander of the occupation forces.
The Kempeitai or special Military police
BTW, the Tokko are not to be confused with the Kempaitai, the feared military police. Perhaps the Kempeitai are more like the Gestapo than the Tokko. Below is a brief account of how the Kempeitai operated in occupied Singapore during the war:
Order was strictly maintained by the Kempeitai (the Japanese Military Police). The Kempeitai could at times be brutal and cold-blooded. People lived in constant fear of them. In many cases, ordinary people were tortured or executed on mere suspicion, or for disrespect to Japanese soldiers.
Yet, hunger and poverty forced some to steal food from shops. Those caught were
dealt with harshly -- the Kempeitai cut their heads off and displayed them in
public.
As the days dragged on, many were not sure if they would survive the Occupation
as the Japanese became more harsh, cruel and erratic in the way they ran the
country.
Some General comments on the age--the 1920s from: http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/japano/meiji-millennium/Meiji07.html
Mannequins first hit the nation's shores in 1928, sparking a massive boom for store dummies. Mannequin clubs popped up everywhere and people would pose for photos alongside the dolls in the same way many Japanese - at least until just a few years ago - swooned at the idea of being in snapshots with Western foreigners, even if they'd only just met.
It was perhaps appropriate that the dummies assumed such a prominent role during
the period from 1925 to 1929 as it appears authorities viewed them as a role
model for the people.
The Peace Preservation Law of 1925 promised a prison sentence of up to 10 years
for anyone who threatened the kokutai - an enigmatic term based on the belief
in the unique nature of Japanese history and the fundamental role of the Imperial
Family. Around the same time, the Justice Ministry created a "Thought Section"
to weed out subversives and courts started to try "thought crimes."
Satisfying authorities' desires to create a docile and pliant population, little
public outcry surrounded the enactment of the law, nor the first time it was
used in early 1926 when applied to a students' association that had pledged
to study Marxism. Perhaps the law's effects were softened when, a month after
it was enacted, the right to vote was extended to male household heads over
25 years of age. If nothing else, however, the Peace Preservation Law allowed
authorities to quell much of the social unrest and labor agitation that had
been the hallmark of the century to date--a notable achievement in a nation
where conditions for such outbursts of public anger were undoubtedly rife.
Although much of the rest of the industrialized world enjoyed heady times in
the late '20s, the nation's business fortunes waned. Despite labor laws that
gave companies optimum opportunities to make hefty profits, failure in business
was far more common than success. Bank runs became almost an everyday occurrence
in early 1927. By April of that year, the government effectively had to bring
commerce to a halt--banks and stock exchanges were shut down for a month, the
nation's downturn heralding the fate that was to befall the rest of the world
18 months later when Wall Street collapsed and the Great Depression began.
Much of the blame for the nation's gloomy business state can probably be laid
on the military, which continued to devour almost half the annual national budget,
despite the late '20s being a time of global disarmament to which Japan paid
at least lip service.
The time from 1925 to 1929 is also remarkable because it signaled the official
start of Emperor Hirohito's reign, possibly the most tumultuous in the nation's
history.
The period was also a time to start national traditions with dubious benefits.
Ferroconcrete apartments appeared for the first time, in Tokyo's Harajuku district.
Within generations, the nation's cities had been almost concreted over. Moreover,
on July 24, 1927, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, probably the greatest author of his generation,
killed himself. The suicide of Akutagawa, who gives his name to the nation's
most prestigious literary award, was later mimicked by other great Japanese
writers such as Osamu Dazai in 1948, Nobel laureate Yasunari Kawabata in 1971
and, perhaps most notably, in 1970 when Yukio Mishima slit his belly while trying
to urge Self-Defense Force troops to revolt.
The Modern Girls (1920s): Harbingers of today's teens
Before Louis Vuitton bag-toting gals in the '80s and loose-socked, prostituting pheromones of the '90s, the '20s had the modern girls.
The moga, as the women were known, modeled themselves on the flappers of the West. Their prestigious occupations (for the time) as elevator girls, receptionists or telephone exchange operators made them the darlings of women who aspired to a life filled with more than merely childbirth and hard labor coupled with undying devotion to their man.
Despite the nation's embryonic suffragette movement, moga were generally
apolitical. Moga were probably the first group of Japanese women to enjoy
widespread freedom.