Japanese journalist and politician (1886–1943)
 was a journalist and politician in Imperial Japan, known primarily for involvement in far-right politics through leadership of the "Tōhōkai" ("Far East Society") party, as well as his opposition to Tōjō Hideki and eventual suicide under murky circumstances.
Born in the city of Fukuoka, Nakano went on to attend Waseda University for four years, writing a number of articles for the journal "Nihon oyobi Nihonjin" (Japan and the Japanese) before graduating in July 1909. In these and in other speeches and articles he would produce, he expressed his political views. Nakano maintained an opposition to Japan's establishment throughout his life, criticizing in turn oligarchs such as Katsura Tarō, the "Seiyūkai" cabinet of Baron Tanaka Giichi, and eventually Tōjō Hideki, the last of which ultimately cost him his life. Despite this opposition, however, Nakano would remain committed to working within political parties and the diet, rejecting the violent coups and putsches of young officers. Of great influence on his political thought was the "Ōyōmei" tradition. Embracing an intuitionist, autonomist view of the individual, "Ōyōmei" thought emphasized the following of what one identifies as "good" or "just", over wealth and obedience to corrupt authorities. In the case of Saigō Takamori, who Nakano held as a hero far greater than himself, "Ōyōmei" sanctified his rebellion against the Meiji Government as heroic.
In his views of the Meiji Restoration, Nakano viewed the event as the result of popular discontent at the Shogunate's despotic rule. But though the leaders of the restoration had been united in a heroic effort against despotic government, a split occurred in which men valuing liberty such as Saigō were sidelined and instead, the Meiji oligarchy allowed Western ideas to flood into the country, eroding Japan's unique spirit and creating a system of oligarchic-bureaucratic rule which was opposed to popular will.
During the 1st Constitutional Protection Movement, he relentlessly attacked the Katsura cabinet and the "hanbatsu" system of clique government as a writer at the "Asahi Shimbun", earning him both a reputation as a liberal and the displeasure of the paper, leading him to launch the "Tohojironsha" paper in 1916. After election to the diet in 1920, Nakano would join a generation of younger, reformist politicians, eventually aligning with Inukai Tsuyoshi and the "Kakushin Kurabu" (Reform Club) in 1922, but later believed no serious change could be made outside of one of the two major parties and transfer to the "Kenseikai" in 1924. Following the Manchurian Incident, Nakano admired the plotters, contrasting their decisive action with the Tanaka cabinet's wavering between hardline policy and capitulation to the United States on China issues. 
To form a strong government to deal with the climate of crisis in the early 1930s, Nakano first attempted to organize a union of the "Seiyukai" and "Minseito", then organizing the "Kokumin Domei" (Citizens’ Alliance) political party with Adachi Kenzo when he failed. Due to disagreements between the two personalities, however, Nakano split to form the "Tōhōkai" in 1936. Eventually, he would join the "Taisei Yokusankai", but left in late 1940 in protest over the restraints imposed on it by conservative forces, primarily the "zaibatsu" and party politicians. He would go on to become a vicious opponent of Tōjō Hideki and his cabinet before committing ritual suicide while under government pressure in 1943.
Biography.
Early life.
Nakano was born as Jintarō Nakano () in the city of Fukuoka, located in Kyushu, the first and eldest son of his family. His father, Taijirō Nakano, was a pawn shop owner from an impoverished samurai family. His mother was Tora Nakano. Nakano would also have two brothers, Taisuke and Hideto, and two sisters, Teru and Mura.
From the ages of 5 to 14, Nakano attended primary school before graduating to attend Fukuoka Prefectural Shūyūkan. In his primary school years, he was described as a bright pupil. At the Shūyūkan, Nakano took an interest in Judo, but suffered a leg injury in his 1st year, forcing him to repeat it and preventing him from joining the military. He also began writing for his school magazine during this time, taking the pen name Masakata, and helped to establish a martial arts centre for pupils called Shimbukan.
In April 1905, Nakano enrolled at Waseda University, a prestigious private university located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, in Political Science. His father's business had gone bankrupt at the time, so in order to pay for his studies, he began to write for the journal "Nihon oyobi Nihonjin" (Japan and the Japanese), through which he became acquainted with Miyake Setsurei, the journal’s owner. He also became acquainted with Mitsuru Tōyama, the most influential figure in the "Genyōsha", a secret ultranationalist society. Though Nakano would never join the "Genyōsha", he would retain ties to it and Tōyama throughout his life. He would graduate four years after his entry into Waseda in July 1909.
Career in Journalism.
After Nakano’s graduation, he pursued a career in journalism as a way to eventually enter politics. He worked at the "Nichi Nichi Shimbun" for a short while before transferring to the larger and more famous "Asahi Shimbun" in 1911. Writing for the "Asahi", he published his political views on matters, such as in “Politicians in and out of Office”, a writing in which he criticized Katsura Taro, a member of the aristocracy, and Saionji Kinmochi, another member of the aristocracy as well as the leader of the majority "Seiyūkai" party, for their arrangement in which when one resigned the office of Prime Minister, the other would take his place. During the Xinhai Revolution, Nakano expressed his support of the revolutionaries against the criticism of figures such as Yamagata Aritomo and travelled to Shanghai on a business trip, meeting Sun Yat-Sen.
When the Taishō Political Crisis began, Nakano used his position at the "Asahi" to become a scathing critic of Katsura Tarō and cabinet, compiling his letters into a book in 1913. Nakano’s boldness at the paper had earned him many enemies in its management, however, and he was transferred to Korea that year. While there, he criticized Governor Terauchi Masatake for his despotic rule of the colony. Nakano married Tamiko, the daughter of Miyake Setsurei, before he transferred to Korea.
In March 1915, Nakano finished his term in Korea and travelled to the United Kingdom. By this time, the 1st World War had begun. On his trip, he acquired a further distaste for the Western powers and belief in Pan-Asianism. What he saw in Britain he believed to be signs of decadence, and in 1917, he would write an article condemning the hypocrisy of the West, which preached justice and self-determination while perpetuating oppression in their colonies. So disappointed was Nakano that in 1916, he decided return to Japan earlier than planned by way of the United States of America. 
After returning to Japan, he left the "Asahi" and joined the "Tohojironsha" (Eastern Review) newspaper, of which he became Chief Editor. The "Tohojironsha" and "Nihon oyobi Nihonjin" would also later merge due to the destruction of the Kantō Earthquake to form the paper "Gakan" (Our Views) in 1923. Through the "Tohojironsha", he criticized the Ōkuma cabinet's Twenty-One Demands, supported the reunification of China's northern and southern governments through Japanese meditation, and supported the rice rioters. He also opposed the Siberian Intervention and urged recognition of the Soviet Russia, believing it would weaken the dominance of the Anglo-American bloc. In 1919, Nakano travelled to report on the peace conference at Versailles. Upon returning to Japan, he blasted the government's weakness in confronting the United States, in the process more than tripling the paper's circulation from 2000 to 7000.
Rise in Politics.
In 1917, Nakano campaigned independently to win a diet seat in his hometown of Fukuoka, but failed. In 1920, he campaigned again. Now aided by greater fame from his writings at the "Tohojironsha", the withdrawal of a rival candidate backed by the Black Dragon Society (which had taken a stance opposite to Nakano on Russia issues), and an expanded electorate, Nakano won a seat at the diet, becoming part of a new, reformist generation of Japanese politicians advocating national reconstruction. Hoping that the postwar discontent would allow new parties to compete with the two dominant parties of the day, the "Seiyukai" and "Kenseikai", Nakano first joined the "Mushozoku Kurabu" (Independents' Club) in 1921, and one year later, the "Kakushin Kurabu" (Reform Club), both parties with a significant younger, progressive element, the latter of which dominated by Inukai Tsuyoshi, whom Nakano had fervently supported during the Taisho Political Crisis. Over time, however, Nakano had come to be frustrated with Inukai's repeated compromises with the establishment and also began to believe that by remaining in a minor party, he would be unable to affect any real change. In 1924, he joined the "Kenseikai" (Constitutional Politics Association), aligning himself with Adachi Kenzō's faction.
In 1927, the "Kenseikai" Wakatsuki cabinet called a truce with their rival, the "Seiyūkai", officially out of respect for the beginning of the new Emperor's reign but in truth over uncertainty over what results the nation's first elections under universal suffrage might bring. This move was criticized within the "Kenseikai", leading to resignations which allowed Nakano to be appointed a Finance Ministry Councillor. After the fall of the Wakatsuki cabinet later that year, however, Nakano would be forced to leave his post, and a new, "Seiyūkai" cabinet was formed by Baron Tanaka Giichi. Nakano would clash several times with Tanaka and his cabinet. Earlier in 1926, he had accused Tanaka of embezzling funds while War Minister in the Siberian Intervention. During Tanaka's time as Prime Minister, Nakano would launch a barrage of criticism against the man, attacking him over his heavy-handed foreign policy towards China and Manchuria, as well as showing weakness before the United States.
In 1927, Nakano helped found the "Minseitō" party, the successor to the "Kenseikai". Representing his increased fortunes within the party, Nakano became a party director, campaign manager, and was also give responsibility for drafting the party program. After the Tanaka cabinet fell following the fallout of Zhang Zuolin's assassination, a "Minseitō" cabinet under Hamaguchi Osachi was formed. Nakano was offered the position of Parliamentary Vice Minister of Communications, and while there, he developed a plan to expand the telephone industry through the formation of a company partly government-owned and partly privately-owned, but his plans were blocked by Shidehara Kijūrō, who had become acting Prime Minister after Prime Minister Hamaguchi was severely wounded in an assassination attempt, and Nakano resigned in protest.
Nakano would have further disagreements with the "Minseitō", particularly over their reimplementation of the gold standard, which he believed was flawed, and when the Manchurian Incident broke out in 1931, Nakano sided with the young officers, praising their spirit and influenced by the "Ōyōmei" tradition, which stressed action and intuition. Despite sharing a dislike of the elitist bureaucracy with the young officers, however, Nakano would always attempt to work within the system.
Drift Towards Fascism.
Break with the Minseitō.
By 1932, recent events such as the Great Depression and Manchurian Incident had convinced Nakano that the world and the establishment were drifting towards crisis. In order to form a strong government, he first attempted to create a union of the two largest political parties, the "Seiyukai" and "Minseito". When this attempt failed, however, Nakano formed the "Kokumin Dōmei" (National Alliance) with Adachi Kenzō and his faction, breaking away from the "Minseito", then elaborating and going further on his earlier proposals for national reconstruction. In the pamphlet "Tenkan Nihon no Dōkō" (Trends of Japan in Transition), he now claimed that the general trend of the times was towards one-party states, and that parliamentary politics and laissez-faire economics, both based on the British model, were outdated. In a later 1933 publication, "Kokka Kaizō Keikaku Kōryō" (Outline Plan for National Reconstruction), Nakano would advocate for a corporatist system. Upon the formation of the "Kokumin Dōmei", the party platform called for the establishment of a "controlled economy", "aiming at the guarantee of the masses' livelihood". In his campaign for a reconstruction of Japan, Nakano would also forge ties with military men such as Kanji Ishiwara and advocate heavily for the recognition of Manchukuo.
Nakano's time in the "Kokumin Dōmei" would be limited, however. As 1932 passed, so did the sense of impending crisis which had convinced him to break away from the hopefully soon-to-be irrelevant establishment parties, and tensions which Adachi increased. Of particular frustration to