Just for the Record: Ōkuma Shigenobu and the Mediatisation of 1910s Japanese Politic(ian)S

Abstract

One of the most decisive landslide victories in the political history of Japan was achieved by Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu in March 1915. His election campaign catalysed the mediatisation of Japanese politic(ian)s. In its centre, Ōkuma resided as a carefully crafted political persona and as a populist, charismatic orator. Ichishima Kenkichi, head of the Count Ōkuma Support Association, resorted to a media strategy unprecedented in Japan, which involved the first major case of distributing records of a political speech and speeches held at train stations in dramatic, ‘auratic performances’ (Richard Bauman). The article investigates the campaign in detail and argues that its media strategy was driven by the necessity to counter persistent pork-barrel politics but depended on a charismatic political persona and on time-specific circumstances to such an extent that in its aftermath—for at least a decade—no similar media usage was seen in the political history of Japan.