Emperor Hirohito and twentieth century Japan

Emperor Hirohito

Throughout much of the 20th and early 21st centuries, an emphasis has been placed upon the role of the constitutional monarch. Where, there has been a desire to limit the power of these different figureheads, while preventing them from disappearing. A good example of this can be seen with the role of the Japanese Emperor Hirohito. As he was able to distance himself from: the brutal atrocities committed, by the Japanese Army during World War II; to become an influential figure in helping to unite post war Japan.

This is important, because it shows how the political influence of modern emperors and monarchies has been continuing to evolve. To fully understand the overall changing nature of this relationship requires: examining how two pieces of information can confirm what has taken place. This will be accomplished by studying the findings from: two different sources and then comparing how the information presented can be used, to highlight this changing relationship. Once this takes place, it will provide the greatest insights, as to how the role of the modern day constitutional monarchy has been continually evolving.

In the article Emperor Hirohito and Early Showa Japan, the author discusses how Hirohito would engage in a series of actions, to distance himself from the various atrocities committed by the Japanese Army. This is because he believed that the hands off approach that he had taken for various military decisions and other actions, would give him the ability to distance himself from everyone else. As a result, a series of different conversations would take place, highlighting the overall role that the emperor would play in these various decisions. To corroborate all of these views, the author would look at a number of different resources to include: Hirohito's monologue, the Makino Diary, excerpts from the diary of General Nara Takeji and Tojo Naikaku. This is important, because the author uses all of the information from these different sources, to construct a time line as to how much power and control Hirohito had over imperial Japan. As a result, one could argue that the information presented from these various sources are highlighting, how his political role would change.

In the article Who Saved the Emperor, the author discusses which government officials were responsible for ensuring that the Hirohito is not charged as a war criminal in 1946. To determine this, the article looks at the roles of: MacArthur, the State Department, the White House and various government officials. The results were: that Hirohito would be an integral part, in helping to pacify Japan after the war and that he was influential, in preventing a full scale invasion of the country. These different views would cause all of the various U.S. government officials, to believe that he would serve an important political role, as a bridge between the past and the future. The various research methods that the author used, was to correlate these different views through: numerous speeches, drafts and memos of government officials. This would provide the greatest insights, as to what were the most prevalent opinions, about how to handle the Hirohito question.

When you examine the overall quality of both sources, it is obvious that all information was collected from: official documents, memos and speeches. Where, both can corroborate how the role of the emperor was changing before and after World War II. This allowed us to be able to understand how and in what ways his roles would change in the future.