Treaty Faction

The terms of the treaty were extremely unpopular with the Japanese public, many of whom saw the 5:5:3 ratio as another way of being regarded as an inferior race by the West.

The Treaty Faction argued that Japan could not afford an arms race with the Western powers, and hoped through diplomacy to restore the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.

With increasing Japanese militarism in the 1930s, the growing conflict with the United States over China, and the blatant disregard for the terms of the treaty by all major powers, the Fleet Faction gradually gained the upper hand.

Furthermore, many of the Treaty Faction members who had direct first-hand experience in Britain or the United States went into retirement from 1933 to 1934, including Isoroku Yamamoto's mentor, Teikichi Hori.

On 29 December 1934, the Japanese government gave formal notice that it intended to terminate the treaty.