What do you think of the movie Emperor on the topic of the war guilt of Hirohito, if any?
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Regarding Pearl Harbor, I was always under the impression that he knew about the Japanese military plans and let it happen.
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The traditional understanding, as was expressed in the Pearl Harbor episodes, is that Emperor Hirohito was a figurehead and not really responsible for Japanâs actions in WW2. But others argue that Hirohito, while not the ultimate decision-maker, was far more hands-on than a mere figurehead. Herbert Bix argues for this in his book âHirohito and the Making of Modern Japanâ (https://www.amazon.com/Hirohito-Making-Modern-Japan-Herbert-ebook/dp/B00128Z202).
In 2018, a memo came to light which suggests Hirohitoâs role was more than figurehead. In it, Vice Interior Minister Michio Yuzawa describes a meeting between Tojo, Yuzawa, and another top aide on the evening of December 7, Tokyo time where Tojo described his meeting with Hirohito earlier that day and that Hirohito was on-board. Tojo is quoted in the memo as saying:
"If His Majesty had any regret over negotiations with Britain and the U.S., he would have looked somewhat grim. There was no such indication, which must be a result of his determination. Iâm completely relieved. Given the current conditions, I could say we have practically won already.â
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He probably was at ease. Itâs also irrelevant.
This will probably be an episode in a few years, but the way in which Japan surrendered shows just how insane their system had become.
The Japanese Military, particularly the Army, were not under anyoneâs control but their own. At senior levels like the Kwantung Army, they regularly ignored civilian orders and made foreign policy on their own. If they didnât like a decision, they would ignore it of turn on the authority that issued it.
In any other country of the period this would be called mutiny and insurrection and get the officers involved court-martialed and shot. No other country tolerated anything like this from its military. In the Soviet Union a commissar would have stepped in months before.
When the Japanese Government decided to surrender, the Army stormed the Imperial Palace and tried to kill the Emperor before he could issue his broadcast. âEmperorâ alludes to this incident but does not fully explore it. All that reverence was tossed aside in a heartbeat. You canât make this stuff up, itâs too crazy.
The coup was stopped by other loyal officers at the last minute. Up until the broadcast was made, it was not clear at all whether the Japanese Miltary would accept surrender. Ultimately, they did.
To hold Hirohito to the standard required means we have to assume that theJapanese Military followed normal command procedures. They didnât.
His pleasure or displeasure meant nothing until August 1945 when for the first and only time it meant something.
The hardest part of the Pacific War is to understand a culture and military that at heart wilfully broke and abandoned so many norms that every other country on Earth including Gernany followed.
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We all know the story that Emperor was considered divine by the people of Japan. There are many pictures of Hirohito in military dress during the 1930âs and the 1940âs âImperial Expansionâ-those optics, that HE PROJECTED both home and abroad were not dubious then-he wasnât a fool. Here is a pic from late 1941. Iâm not aware of evidence he was coerced on his attire and he escaped the post war noose because of his active collaboration with the US on anti-communist messaging, amongst other things.
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Thatâs true, but post-war he had no role either advising governments, no reserve powers and no ability to dissolve parliament. All those were stripped from him under the post-war settlement.
But all this is a little premature, we havenât even reached the end of 1942 in the series.
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Bradley, youâre right about his reduction in formal powers. He did continue to have great informal ability to influence his countrymen. The US and Macarthur in particular, fully understood this and used the Emperor as leverage against communism, the promotion of the new government and other topics.
Hirohito was happy to oblige the US, Macarthur wouldnât offer assurances that he wasnât next headed to trial.
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there is a movie called Emperor that we can watch on youtube for free or some minimal cost. It seems that Hirohito asked the country to surrender and that helped MacArthur not want to put him on trial, and then, once that was decided then MacArthur sought his help to make Japan better and Hirohito gave it more or less willingly. If you believe the movie, then, Hirohito was humbled by the loss of Japan and may have been willing to suffer or be put to death.
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Of course Hirohito was used. He was used by the militarists before the war and he was used by MacArthur after the war. That is the role of Emperor through most of Japanese history, the Meiji Emperor notwithstanding.
MacArthur did clear Hirohito soon after the occupation began. For better or worse.
As history showed, the Emperor only had informal power. He was ignored when he was inconvenient and at times had his life threatened in prewar and wartime Japan.
The Emperorship is a paradoxical position of power and powerlessness.
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Even if Hirohito was only a âfigureheadâ, he still has a degree of resposibility to do something about massacres like the Nanjing massacre of 1938. He was in an important position in a country that committed terrible war crimes ans Hirohito did nothing tot stop it.
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I wonder if the 1918 destruction of the Monarchies might have been an argument to let Hiro Hito stay.
E.g. Wilhelm II fled to the Netherlands where he could continue his antisemitic ranting and was looking for revenge. Meanwhile Germany basically changed its nascent Democracy for the National Socialists.
The Romanovs were gone and they got the communists.
I donât know too much about this period but maybe Hiro Hito also got to stay because the fall of the his Monarchy could have led to much more resistance. . The iconic pictures of the larger MacArthur next to Hiro Hito seems to make a point. Just to reiterate I donât know how valid this argument is any info is welcome.
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