In 1928, financial elites and those sections of the government pressing for an immediate return to gold enlisted the help of the major newspapers of the day to convince the public to return to gold. Typical was a series of editorials in Osaka Mainichi from the summer of 1928 through the spring of 1929. For example, when France went back on gold in June 1928, Osaka Mainichi argued that "France realized the repeal of the gold embargo: Japan should Shame Itself." The same editorial asked rhetorically, "Why shouldn't we repent ourselves of being left behind if we think our nation is a civilized and first-rate one?" In July 1928 the public was told that to rejoin gold "people must endure a pain of surgical operation … Shrink first in order to extend." Later that summer, an editorial noted that although a return to gold would be painful "it is a hopeful pain. Eventually it would restore us."

Mark Blyth, Austerity, loc. 537