Japan uses treaty limits to support economic recovery

Hamaguchi's government pursued fiscal austerity to rebuild Japan's economy. Hamaguchi's public cabinet also operated alongside the emperor and the informal authority of genrō Saionji Kinmochi, whose influence did not depend on an ordinary ministerial office. Treaty limits could restrain military expenditure and leave resources for national economics and infrastructure. That opportunity depended on handling the settlement carefully, because junior officials and naval officers could turn compromise into a domestic political crisis. The Japanese leadership therefore kept its diplomacy tightly controlled for reasons different from either Britain's pacifism or America's struggle with Congress.