Japan at the time was a semi-constitutional monarchy along the lines of say, pre-WWI Prussia. While the Imperial government (which was the emperor, his advisers, ministers, and other powerbrokers) had a good deal of power, there were certain constitutional elements that needed to be obeyed. This was one reason why in the 1920s, when the weak and ill Emperor Taisho ruled, the democratic elements of the government thrived, in what was known as the "Taisho Democracy." In addition, the Emperor's cabinet itself was full of political opponents, the most obvious example being the Army-Navy rivalry that dominated Japanese foreign and military policy in the 1930s.

There was an attempt to centralize rule under the emperor by dissolving the political parties to form a united "Imperial Rule Assistance Association" which theoretically would be a united front to support the Emperor's government. In practice, it suffered from the same political disputes as the "weaker" democracy was perceived.