He was a close friend and ally of Ichiro Hatoyama, and was the key figure in carrying out the "conservative merger" that resulted in the formation of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Miki was admitted into Tokyo Vocational School, called Waseda University from 1902 and on, where he counted among his classmates future politicians Ryutaro Nagai and Ikuo Oyama and baseball player Shin Hashido.

However, he participated in an open-house anti-government meeting in opposition to the Treaty of Portsmouth and after giving a speech demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Taro Katsura he was charged with violating the code of conduct for civil servants and was discharged.

He also caught the eye of Osachi Hamaguchi following his spirited debate with Home Minister Takejiro Tokonami in defense of universal suffrage.

The tour led Miki to the conclusion that the expedition was interference in the internal affairs of another nation, inspired by the militaristic ambitions of the army which were steeped in the traditions of the Meiji oligarchy.

Therefore, he wrote up an open letter and a speech for question period that held the militarists, oligarchs, and bureaucrats accountable for the war and sought to link the neutralization of these forces to the establishment of true parliamentary democracy.

With a view to also using it to force the resignation of incumbent Prime Minister Takashi Hara, Miki handed in the completed manuscript to Takaaki Kato, president of the Kenseikai, through Hamaguchi.

In 1928, he was implicated in a case of bribery by Keisei Railway of the Tokyo municipal government, was convicted in court, and, for the time being, ended up leaving politics.

However, in wartime, they were both defenders of liberalism who together resisted the military authorities, even if in the end they were both compelled to affiliate with the Imperial Rule Assistance Political Association.

Because Yoshida still disliked the pre-war politicians for having been deferent to the military, he selected his cabinet in private consultation with his close advisor, Joji Hayashi without discussing the matter with senior members of the Liberal Party, including Miki, who was Chairman of the Executive Council, and Secretary General Ichiro Kono.

On 24 June 1951, when the ban on holding office was lifted for those purged, Miki began seeking to have Prime Minister Yoshida removed in cooperation with Ichiro Kono and Hatoyama.

To combat this, Yoshida took the advice of his political adviser, Tsuruhei Matsuno, and jolted the pro-Hatoyama faction by calling a snap election in August 1952.

On the recommendation of Kozen Hirokawa, Yoshida also expelled both Ichiro Kono and Tanzan Ishibashi from the Liberal Party on the basis of their opposition to his leadership.

The fact that Miki Bukichi, the central dissident, was not expelled was said to be due to the debt of gratitude Yoshida felt to him for saving his first cabinet in 1946.

The Democratization League absented itself from the Diet when a motion of censure was tabled by the opposition parties against Minister of International Trade and Industry Hayato Ikeda for his gaffe, "The bankruptcy and suicide of one or two small businessmen can't be avoided."

Next year, at the same time as the League arranged for Kono and Ishibashi to re-join the party, it forced the resignations of Secretary General Joji Hayashi and Chairman of the Executive Council Shuji Masutani, who were key allies of Prime Minister Yoshida.

On 28 February 1953 Yoshida responded to a question from the rightist socialist representative Eiichi Nishimura by calling him a "stupid fool" in the Diet.

Only eight men refused to return, Bukichi Miki, Ichiro Kono, Takechiyo Matsuda, To Matsunaga, Umekichi Nakamura, Shinjiro Yamamura, Masanosuke Ikeda, and Kaku Ando, who together called themselves the Japan Liberal Party.

In January 1954 con-man Masutomi Ito was exposed for perpetrating mass investment fraud, a scheme that eventually led investigators to a ring of shipbuilders who were bribing politicians in exchange for subsidies.

Liberal Party Secretary General Eisaku Satō and Political Affairs Research Committee head Hayato Ikeda were suspected of involvement.

In November 1954, the Democratic Party was constituted with Hatoyama as president, Kishi as Secretary General, and Miki as Chairman of the Executive Council.

On 13 April 1955 Miki called upon the right-wing political parties to rally together and announced that should rivalries with the Hatoyama cabinet become an obstacle to the merger, the government was prepared to resign en masse.

As the debate was coming to a close, Hatoyama blurted out while weeping that his cabinet would have to resign, and panicking at the prospect, they ended up backing the merger.

At the next town hall meeting, Miki hit back, saying, "I've heard that a certain candidate has been going around attacking as disgraceful the fact that a man with debts is running for office.

[8] During the 43rd session of the Imperial Diet, which began on 29 June 1920, Korekiyo Takahashi, the Finance Minister in Takashi Hara's cabinet, who went by the nickname "Daruma", was in the process of explaining the naval budget.

This was a very witty statement using the story of the Buddhist monk Daruma Daishi who faced a wall in China's Shaolin Monastery and, after doing zen meditation for nine years, achieved enlightenment.

At a meeting of MPs from the Imperial Rule Assistance Political Association for deciding party policy towards the Tojo cabinet's Corporate Restructuring Bill, Seigo Nakano pointed at the senior members of the IRAPA and remarked, "Swarming around the center of power, I see only sycophants.

"[12] While Miki was serving as Chairman of the Executive Council of the Democratic Party, the Shiun Maru disaster occurred, a deadly collision between two Japanese National Railways ferries, resulting in the resignation of JNR President Sonosuke Nagasaki.

Miki proposed Shinji Sogo, who had a long career as a bureaucrat in the pre-war Japanese Government Railways, to fill his shoes, and met him personally to persuade him.

At the meeting, Miki aggressively approached the wavering Sogo and said, "Our railway department, which has always been like a home to you, is probably on the verge of collapse due to these scandals.