這激起了右翼軍官對軟弱文人政府的不滿。1925年日本還裁掉了4個師團。國民黨軍1926-1927的北伐刺激了日本右翼軍人。他們崇尚吃苦耐勞無私奉獻的武士道精神，得到了民間極端民族主義者的支持。他們攻擊議會裏都是自私的政客，“un-Japanese”。他們要蕩滌西方的腐朽，重建大和民族的精神世界。這與希特勒在大蕭條的德國的言論和煽動，如出一轍。
大英百科對這段曆史的描述是這樣的：
“The principal force against parliamentary government was provided by junior military officers, who were largely from rural backgrounds. Distrustful of their senior leaders, ignorant of political economy, and contemptuous of the urban luxuries of politicians, such officers were ready marks for rightist theorists. Many of them had goals that were national-socialist in character. Kita Ikki, a former socialist and one-time member of the Black Dragon Society, contended that the Meiji constitution should be suspended in favour of a revolutionary regime advised by “national patriots” and headed by a military government, which should nationalize large properties, limit wealth, end party government and the peerage, and prepare to take the leadership of a revolutionary Asia. Kita helped persuade a number of young officers to take part in the violence of the 1930s with the hope of achieving these ends.”
大家罵日本軍國主義在中國的暴行之餘，也應該反思其社會和思想根源。西方學界也不認為，二戰的責任是單方的。
