| Country: | Empire of Japan |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1936 Japanese general election |
| Previous Year: | 1936 |
| Election Date: | 30 April 1937 |
| Next Election: | 1942 Japanese general election |
| Next Year: | 1942 |
| Seats For Election: | All 466 seats in the House of Representatives |
| Majority Seats: | 234 |
| Turnout: | 71.64% (7.00pp) |
| Image1: | Chuji machida.jpg |
| Leader1: | Machida Chūji |
| Party1: | Rikken Minseitō |
| Last Election1: | 39.92%, 205 seats |
| Seats1: | 179 |
| Seat Change1: | 26 |
| Popular Vote1: | 3,689,355 |
| Percentage1: | 36.16% |
| Swing1: | 3.76pp |
| Leader2: | Various |
| Party2: | Rikken Seiyūkai |
| Last Election2: | 37.62%, 174 seats |
| Seats2: | 175 |
| Seat Change2: | 1 |
| Popular Vote2: | 3,594,863 |
| Percentage2: | 35.23% |
| Swing2: | 2.39pp |
| Image3: | Isoo abe.jpg |
| Leader3: | Abe Isoo |
| Party3: | Shakai Taishūtō |
| Last Election3: | 18 seats |
| Seats3: | 37 |
| Seat Change3: | 19 |
| Popular Vote3: | 928,934 |
| Percentage3: | 9.10% |
| Swing3: | 4.44pp |
| Prime Minister | |
| Before Party: | Imperial Japanese Army |
| After Party: | Imperial Japanese Army |
General elections were held in Japan on 30 April 1937,[1] after the dissolution of Parliament on 31 March. Rikken Minseitō emerged as the largest in Parliament, with 179 of the 466 seats. The election was a major victory for the Shakai Taishūtō, which became the third-largest party in the Diet. It was the first socialist party to do so in Japanese history. In contrast, the mildly pro-military Rikken Minseitō lost several seats and fascist groups such as Tōhōkai remained minor forces in the House. A month after the election, the Emperor replaced Prime Minister Hayashi with Fumimaro Konoe. Voter turnout was 73.3%.[2]
In February 1937, General Senjūrō Hayashi was appointed prime minister. Just days after taking office and having the Diet enact a budget bill, he ordered a dissolution of the House of Representatives, hoping to weaken the major political parties. The act was opposed by the major political parties as well as by the general public, and quickly became known as the .
In 1941, the Diet under the Konoe government passed a law extending the term of the Representatives from four years to five (衆議院議員任期延長ニ関スル法律). This allowed time to solidify the control of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association over Japanese politics. The Association effectively replaced all political parties in Japan and subsequently dominated the 1942 general election, although numerous factions developed within the Association's caucus in the House. The term extension was effectively repealed by the Constitution of Japan in 1947, which returned the representatives' term of office to 4 years.
| Prefecture | Total seats | Seats won | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rikken Minseitō | Rikken Seiyūkai | Shakai Taishūtō | Shōwakai | Kokumin Dōmei | Tōhōkai | Others | Ind. | |||
| Aichi | 17 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||
| Akita | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Aomori | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Chiba | 11 | 6 | 5 | |||||||
| Ehime | 9 | 5 | 4 | |||||||
| Fukui | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Fukuoka | 18 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| Fukushima | 11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | ||||||
| Gifu | 9 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Gunma | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Hiroshima | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | ||||||
| Hokkaido | 20 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Hyōgo | 19 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | |||||
| Ibaraki | 11 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Ishikawa | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Iwate | 7 | 2 | 5 | |||||||
| Kagawa | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Kagoshima | 12 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Kanagawa | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | ||||||
| Kōchi | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Kumamoto | 10 | 1 | 5 | 4 | ||||||
| Kyoto | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| Mie | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | ||||||
| Miyagi | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Miyazaki | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Nagano | 13 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Nagasaki | 9 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Nara | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Niigata | 15 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| Ōita | 7 | 3 | 4 | |||||||
| Okayama | 10 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Okinawa | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Osaka | 21 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Saga | 6 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| Saitama | 11 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Shiga | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Shimane | 6 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| Shizuoka | 13 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Tochigi | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | ||||||
| Tokushima | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||||||
| Tokyo | 31 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| Tottori | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Toyama | 6 | 4 | 2 | |||||||
| Wakayama | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| Yamagata | 8 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Yamaguchi | 9 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Yamanashi | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Total | 466 | 180 | 174 | 37 | 19 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 25 | |