JAPAN: Seats For Shishi

Ten million Japanese went to the polls last week in the second general election since Japan adopted universal manhood suffrage. Nearly all of them voted for Prime Minister Yuko “Shishi” (i. e. “The Lion”) Hamaguchi. The Minseito, his party, gained 101 new seats (giving them 273 of the 466 parliamentary seats) in the most impressive vote of confidence given any Japanese Government in a generation. Bristle-haired Prime Minister “Shishi” who had led his campaign himself on a platform of government economy, balancing the budget without foreign loans, foreign conciliation, restoration of the gold standard, was delighted. Delighted too, were foreign observers at the London Naval Conference. It was felt that with the Minseito party so firmly re-established in power, the Japanese naval delegates could make concessions in their stubborn demands, need not fear popular indignation at a little wise yielding.