Japanese Emperor Quotes
Allied calls for indictment of Emperor Hirohito. war crimes trials of Tojo and other Japanese leaders Senior officer responsible for investigating Japanese WWII war criminals. Fellers was the officer who had previously done the “research and investigation for his boss General Douglas MacArthur who had recommended no prosecution for the Emperor. See {605727}. Yonai was to get word to General Tojo and Admiral Shimada, already indicted as war criminals to minimize the role of the Emperor who had personally approved of Pearl Harbor and every major subsequent act of Japanese aggression. Shimada was “on board” but there were doubts about whether Tojo would go along with the deceptive exoneration of the Emperor.
none of a prosecutorial nature At the end of World War II, a major issue was whether to try the Japanese Emperor as a War Criminal. He had been the Commander and Chief of the Japanese Armed Forces, personally appointed virtually every military of civilian official of consequence—who served at his pleasure, had personally approved every major Japanese invasion (except some of the China incursions) and attack (including Pearl Harbor), personally allowed the execution of American captured prisoner of war flyers from the Doolittle raid on Tokyo, and was knowledgeable about most of the Japanese war crimes. However, General MacArthur thought him a stabilizing force in post-war Japan and never did a detailed investigation of his possible indictment. Instead he wrote this magnificently artfully worded telegram to General Eisenhower. MacArthur wanted to shock the Truman administration into allowing him to reduce the Emperor’s dictatorial powers but retain not only the monarchy but avoid indicting Hirohito. He succeeded, and there was no serious investigation of the Emperor as a possible war criminal despite many calls for Hirohito’s indictment from a few allied politicians {43748} and some American and allied veterans groups. Few could argue with the pragmatic result and the rehabilitation of Japan, but the justice of the decision—or lack thereof—has been debated since. See {43823}, {43824}, {603499}, {43831}, {603752}, {43841}, {601309}, {593777}, {43997}, {43999}, {594634}
The Emperor had ruled Japan as a “living God” with complete dictatorial powers which had been restricted by the Constitution MacArthur had imposed on post-war Japan. It is not clear whether MacArthur actually believed his statement or was just trying to flatter the Emperor whose cooperation MacArthur eagerly sought despite calls for the war crimes indictment of Hirohito.
Actually, although the Emperor wanted to surrender, there was a military coup attempted to prevent his announcement being made to the Japanese people. Fortunately, it did not succeed, but he certainly had the alternative of fighting to the death. There were Japanese hard liners who believed that they could make the invasion of mainland Japan so costly in lives to the Allies that they could negotiate terms. The Atomic Bomb however, in the mind of the Emperor and other Japanese leaders rendered that strategy moot.
To this day, Japanese are generally very circumspect about criticizing the emperor and he is rarely the subject of public discussion.
Many of the young men who were given this form to fill out, had never been in Japan and some did not even know there was an emperor there. Nonetheless the Japanese American divisions of enlistees were the most effective and most decorated fighting units for America while their parents who had not been born in America were still imprisoned in the internment camps. See {624010}.
In 1948 Japanese Emperor Hirohito convened the Japanese Diet. By tradition the Emperor would receive the bows and homage of the leaders of the upper and lower houses in a special audience room before the ceremony. Matsumoto did not so greet Hirohito provoking a scandal of sorts. However, in the past, Hirohito had been worshipped as a living God. When his subjects attended an audience, they would bow low and leave walking backwards or sideways so as never to insult the Emperor be showing him their backs. The court maneuver was known as the “crab walk.’ However, under the 1946 Constitution the Emperor had become a mortal, human “symbol” of the state. Matsumoto was purged from politics with the active assistance of the American Occupation authorities. No one was willing to take the new Constitution both literally and seriously.
