Political parties of the Empire of Japan public assembly, the press and on political discussion. The Meiji government had come to power by an elite of "samurai" from certain clans ("hanbatsu") and the "genrō" felt threatened by anything looking ever remotely like republicanism or democracy. During this period, Itagaki Taisuke and Ōkuma Shigenobu were leading figures in the legitimization of political parties. Itagaki created Japan's first political party, the Aikoku Kōtō, in 1873 in Tokyo to petition for an elected assembly, and a similar regional party based in Osaka, the Aikokusha. These groups were the basis of the Jiyutō (Liberal Party), founded in 1881 as Japan’s first
Social Democratic Party (Japan) Social Democratic Party (Japan) The Social Democratic Party (社会民主党 "Shakai Minshu-tō", often abbreviated to 社民党 "Shamin-tō"), also known as the Social Democratic Party of Japan (日本社会党, abbreviated to SDPJ in English) and previously as the Japan Socialist Party (JSP), is a political party that at various times advocated the establishment of a socialist Japan, until 1996. Since its reformation and name change in 1996, it has defined itself as a social-democratic party. The party was reformed in January 1996 by the majority of legislators of the former Socialist Party of Japan, which was Japan's largest opposition party in the 1955