Political repression in Imperial Japan
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Political repression in Imperial Japan lasted from the Meiji period to the fall of the Empire of Japan after the end of World War II. Throughout this period, dissidence was curtailed by laws, and police, and dissidents became political prisoners.
Several laws were passed to curtail dissidence in Imperial Japan, including the Public Peace Police Law in 1900, and the Peace Preservation Law in 1925.[1]
The earliest secret police in Imperial Japan was the Danjodai, established in May 1869. The Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu (Tokko) was established in 1911 following the Great Treason Incident of 1910.[2]
By the late 1930s, political repression had also extended into cultural fields, including Surrealist publishing; for example, in 1939 the police banned the Nagoya Surrealist journal Yoru no Funsui, launched the year before by Kansuke Yamamoto.[3][4]