Tanaka returned as Army Minister in the 2nd
Yamamoto administration from September 1923 to January 1924. After retiring from the army, Tanaka was invited to accept the post of party president of the
Rikken Seiyūkai political party in 1925 and was made a member of the
House of Peers in January 1926. He had been scheduled to be promoted to the rank of
Field Marshal at the time of his retirement. However, when news reached the ears of the Army Ministry of a 3 million Yen bonus that Tanaka received on agreeing to join the
Rikken Seiyukai, the promotion was denied.
Premiership (1927–1929) Tanaka became
Prime Minister of Japan on 20 April 1927, during the
Shōwa financial crisis, serving simultaneously as the
Foreign Affairs Minister. He later added the posts of
Home Minister (4 May 1928 to 23 May 1928), and
Colonial Affairs Minister (10 June 1929 to 2 July 1929) to his portfolio. On the domestic front, Tanaka attempted to suppress communists and socialists and their sympathizers through widespread arrests (the
15 March incident of 1928, and the
19 April incident of 1929). On foreign policy, Tanaka differed from his predecessor Shidehara both tactically and strategically. Whereas Shidehara preferred to evacuate Japanese residents where conflicts occurred with local people, Tanaka preferred using military force. While Shidehara theoretically respected China's sovereignty, Tanaka openly pursued a to
create a sense of difference between those areas and the rest of China. On three separate occasions in 1927 and 1928 he sent troops to intervene militarily in
Shandong Province to block
Chiang Kai-shek's
Northern Expedition to unify China under
Kuomintang rule, in what became known as the
Jinan Incident. Tanaka came into office even as forces were already beginning to converge that would draw Japan into
World War II. In 1928, however, the machinations of the ultranationalist secret societies and the
Kwantung Army resulted in a crisis: the
assassination of the Manchurian warlord
Zhang Zuolin and the failed attempt to seize
Manchuria. Tanaka himself was taken by surprise by the assassination plot and argued that the officers responsible should be publicly
court-martialed for homicide. The military establishment, from which Tanaka was by now estranged, insisted on covering up the facts of the incident, which remained an official secret. Bereft of support, and under mounting criticism in the
Diet and even from emperor
Hirohito himself, Tanaka and his cabinet resigned en masse on 2 July 1929. (1854–1936, in office 1921–22, left) and
Giichi Tanaka (1864–1929, in office 1927–29)
Death Tanaka was succeeded by
Hamaguchi Osachi, and died a few months after his resignation. He was awarded the
Order of the Paulownia Flowers on his death. His grave is at the
Tama Cemetery in
Fuchū, Tokyo. ==Tanaka Memorial==