Emperor Hirohito, the demi-god at the apex of the Japanese state when it waged war across Asia, cautioned against conflict, but celebrated military success, a long-awaited official history of his reign released yesterday showed.
The mammoth 61-volume set, which has taken 24 years to compile at a cost to the Japanese taxpayer of ￥230 million (US$2.2 million), reveals little new hard evidence about one of the most controversial figures of the 20th century.
However, it offers a largely sympathetic view of the man considered by some to have played a pivotal role in Japan’s march to World War II, and by others as the helpless puppet of an out-of-
Photo: AFP
control military state.
The annals, produced by the Imperial Household Agency, show how in the lead-up to Japan’s surprise attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Hirohito warned against a “reckless war” that would make him feel “deeply sorry for my imperial ancestors.”
They depict a man who spoke out against the military commanders who had taken Japan into full-scale war against China in 1937 with the promise that the conflict would be short and that victory was assured.
However, they also show a leader satisfied with triumphs on faraway battlefields.
An increasingly militaristic Japan had invaded Manchuria in 1931, where it set up a puppet government and a base from which to agitate against China’s weak regime.
In 1937, imperial troops took the then-Chinese capital of Nanjing in an orgy of violence, where tens of thousands of civilians were butchered.
After being briefed about the fall of the city, Hirohito told military leaders to tell their officers and soldiers: “I am deeply satisfied by their courage in quickly bringing down the capital, Nanjing.”
Documents used in compiling the Hirohito record include information about how Japanese troops surrounded and attacked the city, but did not contain details of the massacre of civilians, Kyodo News reported.
Hirohito is a particularly divisive figure among historians because of his unique position.
Some hold that as a living god, who was simultaneously commander in chief of Japan’s military, he had the final say over the wars that the country waged in the 1930s and 1940s.
They insist the invasion and occupation of China, which Chinese sources claim cost up to 20 million lives, would not have happened without at least tacit approval from him.
When Japan surrendered in 1945, the US-led occupying force kept Hirohito on the throne, mindful of the need for stability, even as they arrested, tried and hanged numerous military and political leaders.
In exchange for being allowed to live unmolested, Hirohito had to renounce his divinity, but he continued to act as symbol of the nation until his death in 1989.
He remained controversial around the world and was the target of protests during foreign tours, including to Britain in 1971, where former Japanese prisoners of war turned their backs on him as he was driven through London.
His disputed legacy is understood to have been a factor in the length of time it has taken for the Imperial Household Agency to produce the annals.
The agency said it used 3,152 documents, including 40 new items, to compile the 12,000-page record.
Local media said it did not contain the clearest admissions of responsibility for war that Hirohito is known to have made.
Nihon University history professor Takahisa Furukawa said the volumes would be helpful for researchers, but “there is nothing surprising at all in the record.”
“It is meaningful in that the Imperial Household Agency made a step forward in information disclosure, using documents that had been kept secret in the past,” he said.
However, it “has to disclose more information, including the original documents,” he said.
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to
RSS