But despite the acceptance of her territorial gains at the peace
conference, by 1919 Japan’s difficulties were increasing. A student
uprising in Peking drove out the pro-Japanese Anfu clique that had
controlled the Chinese government. Opposition to the Shantung award
was growing in the United States, and the American navy was rapidly
becoming the most powerful in the world. Two years later Japan’s
position had become still weaker. A boycott was severely reducing
Japanese trade in China. The costs of the naval-building race with the
United States were a heavy burden. Japanese intervention in Siberia,
which continued after the armed forces of the Western powers had
been withdrawn, was not succeeding. And expenditure on the Siberian
occupation, ultimately totaling about 800 million yen, together with
the naval-building costs, was straining the Japanese budget. These
various factors were discrediting the Japanese militarists at home, and
liberal Japanese were beginning to speak out against them.