Propaganda elettorale e mass media all’inizio dell’era Shōwa

This paper discusses the advent of mass propaganda in Japanese politics by focusing on major elections held under party cabinets in 1927-1932. In those years, implementation of universal male suffrage deeply affected the candidate-elector relationship, leading to an impressive development of mass-oriented communication techniques. The paper outlines both technical and stylistic innovations that marked electioneering by the different parties. It also touches on closely related matters, such as funding, censorship and other legal restrictions in the use of mass media. While pointing out that mass communication remained subject to major constraints in the party politics of early Shōwa, research suggests that experimentation carried out in that period paved the way for the later wartime propaganda.