Departments
Intermediate Japanese - Free Online Course
SHŌWA TENNŌ
昭和天皇
Emperor Shōwa
page 2 of 2
Emperor Hirohito and World War II
Following Japan’s defeat in the Second World War, the allies decided that Emperor Hirohito would remain as a monarch—on the condition that his divinity was explicitly denied. This decision surprised much of the American public. During the war, the Emperor was portrayed in much the same terms as Hitler or Mussolini. Why, some people asked, was the emperor now getting off the hook?
Emperor Hirohito’s real culpability for Japan’s wartime aggression remains a source of controversy. The official story advanced by American Occupation authorities and the Japanese government was that the emperor himself had always been an advocate of peace. According to this view, Hirohito was manipulated by militarist factions in the Japanese government.
There is little controversy regarding Hirohito’s role in Japan’s surrender. When the war effort became hopeless in August 1945, the emperor overruled the government’s diehards, who wanted the country to fight to national extinction. The emperor was also cooperative in endorsing Japan’s postwar reforms. Nevertheless, there is conflicting evidence regarding his position early in the war, when Japan still had a reasonable chance of accomplishing its aims.
As the Allies prepared a list of war criminals to go on trial in 1946, the Emperor’s name was mentioned. However, General Douglas MacArthur rejected the idea, on the grounds that the trial (and perhaps the execution) of the emperor would lead to a general uprising in Japan. So when Japan’s war crimes trials took place in May 1946, the emperor was not among the defendants.
During the trial proceedings, American Occupation authorities even took steps to sway the testimonies of Japanese defendants to ensure that the emperor would not be indicted. Colonel Bonner F. Fellers, an aid to General MacArthur, worked through a Japanese intermediary to exert pressure on the key defendant, ex-Prime Minister Hideki Tojo. Tojo was instructed to explicitly deny any imperial guilt in the decision to go to war with the United States.
A handful of the Japanese generals and government officials who were charged with war crimes were hanged. By all accounts, these condemned men expressed no resentment over the emperor’s exoneration. (When he went to the gallows, Tojo himself spoke not about Hirohito, but about communism. His reputed last words were, “Someday the communists will hang you all.”)
The Emperor’s Legacy
Hirohito’s legacy remains controversial in Japan today. Documentaries have emphasized the Emperor’s peaceful side: his diplomatic tour of Europe as a young regent, and his scholarly interest in marine biology.
As the emperor neared death in December 1988, the mayor of Nagasaki, Hitoshi Motoshima, broke a longtime taboo and stated that he held Hirohito responsible for the catastrophic consequences of Japan’s actions during World War II. Right-wing groups rushed to condemn the mayor; and he was nearly killed in an assassination attempt in 1990.