Emperor Hirohito (Showa) and Empress Nagako

[Prisma]

On May 28th, the IHA announced it will accept Emperor Showa's memoirs donated by Dr. Katsuya Takasu. The agency confirmed imperial aide and translator Hidenari Terasaki's handwriting. Dr. Takasu is pleased and hopes the public will see it eventually.

Source: Asahi

[Prisma]

Controversial memo shines light on Emperor Hirohito's role in Pearl Harbor attack - Chicago Tribune

[...]

At 8:30 p.m. in Tokyo, just hours before the attack, [Prime Minister Hideki Tojo] summoned two top aides for a countdown to war briefing. One of them, Vice Interior Minister Michio Yuzawa, wrote an account three hours after the meeting was over.

"The emperor seemed at ease and unshakable once he had made a decision," he quoted Tojo as saying.

[...]

"It took me nine years to come forward, as I was afraid of a backlash," said bookshop owner Takeo Hatano, who handled the document carefully as he showed it to Associated Press journalists. [...]

Takahisa Furukawa, a Nihon University expert on wartime history who has confirmed the authenticity of the memo, called it the first detailed portrayal of Tojo and Hirohito just before the attack. Palace documents have confirmed Hirohito's daytime meeting with Tojo on Dec. 7, 1941, but without elaborating.

The memo supports the view that Hirohito was not as concerned about waging war on the U.S. as was once portrayed, Furukawa said. The emperor had endorsed the government's decision to scrap diplomatic options at a Dec. 1 meeting, and his unchanged position the day before the attack reassured Tojo.

Yuzawa's account portrays Tojo as upbeat and feeling a sense of accomplishment after all the required administrative steps for war had been taken and, most importantly, Hirohito had given him the final nod without asking any questions.

"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," Tojo is quoted as saying in the memo. "I'm completely relieved. Given the current conditions, I could say we have practically won already."

[...]

Furukawa said Tojo's remarks in the memo about his relief at completing the preparations for war support evaluations of him as a good bureaucrat but not a visionary leader. More decisive leadership might have ended the war earlier, he said.

"Tojo is a bureaucrat who was incapable of making own decisions, so he turned to the emperor as his supervisor. That's why he had to report everything for the emperor to decide. If the emperor didn't say no, then he would proceed," Furukawa said. "Clearly, the memo shows the absence of political leadership in Japan."

[...]

Hatano, a longtime acquaintance of some of Yuzawa's descendants, received the notebook and other items from the family when they wanted to make room in their apartment. He found the memo folded in half inside the notebook about a year later.

"When I recognized the date, Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, I knew it was something special," he said. He examined it repeatedly to try to make sense of the handwriting and archaic language. "Then I spotted references to the emperor, and Prime Minister Tojo."

Emperor Hirohito in anguish in final years over blame for war - Kyodo News

[...]

The diary kept by late chamberlain Shinobu Kobayashi revealed the aging emperor was haunted by talk of his wartime responsibility following the Sino-Japanese War and World War II.

"There is no point in living a longer life by reducing my workload. It would only increase my chances of seeing or hearing things that are agonizing," according to the diary entry dated April 7, 1987. The emperor, who died in 1989, was 85 at the time.

The entry recounted the emperor's remarks made to Kobayashi, who was 22 years his junior, while Kobayashi was on duty at the emperor's residence in Tokyo. The Imperial Household Agency had been considering ways to reduce his workload at the time.

[...]

"I have experienced the deaths of my brother and relatives and have been told about my war responsibility," the emperor also said, according to the diary.

[...]

The diary shows Kobayashi tried to console the emperor by telling him that "Only a few people talk about (your) war responsibility."

[...]

Another diary by a senior chamberlain, Ryogo Urabe, which has already been made public, supports Kobayashi's accounts, stating Kobayashi had "tried to soothe" the emperor, who said "there is nothing good in living long," in an entry dated the same day.

[...]

The diary entry dated May 27, 1980, said the emperor wanted to convey his regret over the Sino-Japanese War to visiting Chinese Premier Hua Guofeng but other senior officials of the agency opposed the idea for fear of a backlash from rightists.

Kobayashi's diary does not detail who talked about the emperor's responsibility or when, although in March 1986 there was a fierce exchange of words between the late Seiji Masamori, a Japan Communist Party lawmaker at the House of Representatives, and then Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.

During a budget committee meeting, Masamori said, "Who drove Japan to the brink of collapse by starting a reckless war?" Nakasone denied the emperor had any responsibility.

In December 1988, Nagasaki Mayor Hitoshi Motojima also said the emperor bears responsibility for the war, stirring controversy again.

[...]

Kobayashi, who became the emperor's chamberlain in April 1974, kept a diary almost daily during his 26 years in office until June 2000, when the emperor's wife Empress Kojun died.

[Prisma]

Video of Empress Kojun's life, includes rare photos after she retired from public duties in 1987.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eXNqIvZgr8

[Prisma]

Cache of rare ‘waka’ poems written by Hirohito emerge: The Asahi Shimbun

[...] The manuscripts were kept by an individual who was close to the emperor.

[...]

The jottings are on 29 sheets of paper, both front and back, on which the characters of “Kunaicho” (Imperial Household Agency) are printed. All the pages, except one side, are filled with poems by the emperor as well as his revisions.

They contain at least 252 poems, all written in pencil. The margins are filled with notes and comments.

[...]

The Asahi Shimbun interviewed the individual, and others associated with the collection, on numerous occasions and analyzed the manuscripts in cooperation with Isao Tokoro, professor emeritus of law at Kyoto Sangyo University [...]

The newspaper also sought the assistance of poet Hirohiko Okano, who had advised Hirohito about his poetry style in his last years, to check the contents as he was familiar with the emperor's handwriting.

[...] the 29 sheets of paper were used by Hirohito from around 1985 to autumn 1988 when he became sick.

[...] Of the 252 newly discovered poems, 41 were at the polishing stage and eventually carried in those two books. The remaining 211 poems had never been published.

The themes of Hirohito’s poems range widely from the Pacific War to visits to local areas of Japan.

One reads, “Aa Kanashi/ Tatakai no ato/ Omoitsutsu/ Shiki ni Inori o/ Sasagetarunari” (How sad/ Thinking/ After the war/ Offering/ Prayers frequently).

Hirohito sent this poem to the memorial service for the war dead held on Aug. 15, 1988, the last official event for him.

He read the following poem during a ceremony to celebrate the 60th anniversary of his reign, which was held on April 29, 1986, his 85th birthday.

“Kokumin no/ Iwai o Ukete/ Ureshikimo/ Furikaerimireba/ Hazukashikikana” (Receiving celebration/ From the people/ I’m happy but/ Looking back/ I’m ashamed)

[...]

At the age of 60, he read a poem, which in part went, “Ware Kaerimite/ Haji Ookikana” (When I look back/ Many shames).

At the age of 70, he read another poem, which in part said, “Kaerimireba/ Tada Omohayuku” (Looking back/ I just feel embarrassed).

[...]

In the margin of the manuscripts, Hirohito wrote, “Though this ritual is a state event, I wonder if this is good.”

[...]

[Prisma]

more about the waka poems

Snow in Tokyo often reminded Hirohito of coup attempt in 1936: The Asahi Shimbun

[...] One of the memos reads, “I think of the 2-26 Incident.”

This refers to an attempted coup d’etat on Feb. 26, 1936, by young army officers intent on purging the government and military leadership. Several people were killed or seriously injured in the uprising, and a number of the officers were later executed.

[...] one starts with a description of heavy snow that had fallen in Tokyo since the early hours of the previous day. The emperor noted that it was numbingly cold in January.

He then wrote, “Seeing snow, I think of the 2-26 Incident.” It goes on to say, “I regret that I stopped skiing and that I can’t stroll around.”

A different memo reads, “I’m nostalgic for the days when I skied in my garden. So, I hold a grudge against the (2-26) incident. When I enjoyably hear stories about skiing from my children and other people, I just pray for a peaceful society.”

It was snowing in Tokyo when the 2-26 Incident occurred. At that time, Hirohito was 34 years old.

According to "Showa-Tenno Jitsuroku" (Fact record of Emperor Showa), Hirohito skied every day in February 1936 from the fifth day of that month. He also skied in the afternoon on Feb. 25, a day before the incident.

But after the coup attempt, he only ever skied twice, in 1939 and in 1942.

[...]

Non-fiction writer Masayasu Hosaka said that for Hirohito, the 2-26 Incident was the second most painful event next to World War II.

“It is known that he stopped playing golf after the war. If similar feelings would have spread to skiing, painful memories must have penetrated even into his daily life,” Hosaka said.

[Tatiana Maria]

So, that one violent incident occurring when he was 34 caused the very sight of snow to trigger painful memories (so painful he forever abandoned an activity he had loved) for all the rest of his days. How many people who experienced the events of the 1930s and 1940s must have suffered in this way?

Originally Posted by Prisma

Emperor Hirohito in anguish in final years over blame for war - Kyodo News

The depth of his guilt must have been awful, especially when being gagged by the government/IHA and disallowed from expressing his regret. It's ironic that Mayor Motojima received a death threat for expressing the emperor's own sincere belief that he bore some responsibility for the war.

[Prisma]

5,000 mistakes found in official history of Emperor Showa: The Asahi Shimbun

An official chronicle of the life of Emperor Akihito's father contains 5,000 or so errors, but none so grievous that they alter the historical record, according to sources.

Imperial Household Agency officials toiled on the multivolume work about Emperor Showa, as Hirohito is known posthumously, for more than 24 years.

[...]

The finished version was presented to Akihito and Empress Michiko in August 2014.

[...]

The errors were uncovered during the process of preparing the chronicle for publication to the public. Many of the mistakes concerned dates and names of individuals whom the emperor met, as well as locations he visited.

[...]

After identifying all the errors, agency officials plan to release a chart that provides the correct information.

[...]

In October 2014, Akihito pointed out that the circumstances concerning a "waka" poem composed by his father appeared to be incorrect.

[...]

Copies of the chronicle were also presented to the other imperial family members, including Crown Prince Naruhito [...]

The contents, presented in digital form to media organizations, served as unimpeachable background information for numerous news reports.

Some of the data was also released to researchers, who submitted information disclosure requests.

[...]

Agency officials combed through the chronicle and found discrepancies in the dates Emperor Showa met various people, a number of whom were wrongly identified.

The errors stemmed from mistakes in original documents used to compile the chronicle or were spotted on the basis of new information obtained by agency officials.

[...]

The first volume of the chronicle went on sale from Tokyo Shoseki in March 2015. The 19th and final volume is set for release on March 28.

[...]

Once the chart is completed, a report on the changes will be submitted to Akihito, Michiko and other imperial family members for their perusal ahead of releasing it to the general public.

A total of 112 employees at the agency's Archives and Mausolea Department were involved in compiling the chronicle. The total cost, excluding personnel expenses, came to 230 million yen ($2.1 million).

In addition to interviewing 50 or so former close associates of Emperor Showa, the researchers visited all 47 prefectures as well as countries that Hirohito went to, including the United States and Britain.

They consulted about 3,000 documents, including the diaries of close associates and others, as well official documents of foreign nations.

[Prisma]

Emperor Hirohito stopped from expressing remorse over war - Kyodo News+

Emperor Hirohito wanted to express his regret and remorse over World War II in 1952 but was stopped from doing so by the prime minister at the time, newly disclosed documents showed Monday.

The records detailing exchanges between the emperor, known posthumously as Emperor Showa, and Michiji Tajima, the first grand steward of the Imperial Household Agency, provide further evidence to support the view that the emperor may have sought to apologize over the war.

The documents, disclosed by public broadcaster NHK, which obtained 18 notebooks from Tajima's family, showed the emperor saying on Jan. 11, 1952, "I just think I really need to include the word remorse" in a speech during the ceremony in May that year to mark Japan's regaining of independence.

An item dated Feb. 20 the same year also quoted the emperor as saying, "If we reflect, we have all done bad things, so please write well and include in the upcoming speech the meaning that we must all reflect and not repeat them."

But Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, who was consulted by Tajima, opposed the emperor's plan to publicly express regret and remorse, saying it could prompt people to say he was responsible for starting the war.

Yoshida also said he no longer wanted the emperor to mention the war or Japan's defeat.

[...]

The documents also showed the emperor reflecting on the path toward Japan's defeat, saying "no one could stop the military," particularly by the time Hideki Tojo was serving as the country's prime minister.

Tajima was chief of the imperial household office from 1949 to 1953. He wrote down details of conversations with the emperor during his service in his notebooks.

[...]

In 2003, a draft of an apology speech believed to have been in preparation for Emperor Hirohito after the war was discovered by former Sophia University lecturer Kyoko Kato when she was going through documents left by Tajima.

The draft speech, which mentions "deep shame" due to "my fault," was estimated to have been written around the autumn of 1948, and indicated he may have been planning to admit his responsibility for the war and apologize to the Japanese people.

A slew of other documents, including diaries of the emperor's close aides, have shown the emperor was uneasy with Japan's drift to war but was too weak to alter the course of events and was in anguish in his final years for being blamed for his role in the war.

[...]

Emperor Hirohito sought post-WWII political input, expression of war regret: new docs - The Mainichi

[...]

On the message to the Japanese people at the end of the Allied occupation, Tajima records the Emperor telling him on Jan. 11, 1952 -- when work on a draft speech was beginning in earnest -- "I absolutely wish to include words of regret (in the speech)." On Feb. 20 the same year, Tajima records the Emperor saying, "Though this is beyond my purview, (during the war) order was overthrown from below in the military, in the government and among the people, and the brazenness of the military was overlooked. Everyone has negative things to reflect on, so my wish is for everyone to regret these things so they will not be repeated." It is thought that "order overthrown from below" was intended to mean the failure to restrain Japan's military during the conflict.

In the end, the exact term "regret" was removed from the Emperor's address after internal discussions at the Imperial Household Agency. Attempts were made to insert a section on repentance for the war, but this too was dropped in the face of opposition from then Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida.

[...]

Also in the "audience records" are comments by the Emperor suggesting he felt a sense of crisis over the security situation during the Cold War between the United States and the then Soviet Union. On Feb. 11, 1952, about five months after the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty between Japan and the western Allies, Emperor Hirohito is recorded as saying, "I believe that it would be a good idea to squarely and openly amend the part about armament," indicating he wished to see Japan change its new pacifist Constitution and rearm.

However, he also stated that he was dead-set against the restoration of the former Imperial Japanese forces. On May 8, 1952, shortly after Japan emerged from the postwar occupation, Tajima reports Emperor Hirohito saying, "It is absolutely undesirable for the previous military clique to rise again through rearmament. However, considering the threat of aggression presented by (the Soviet Union), it is unthinkable that (Japan) would not make new defensive military preparations."

Emperor Hirohito apparently sought to communicate these views to Prime Minister Yoshida, but Tajima records that he advised the Emperor that this was "forbidden." The exchange suggests that Emperor Hirohito did not fully understand that he was excluded entirely from politics by the postwar Constitution, and that he was searching for what it meant to be a purely symbolic monarch.

[...]

Notes of key aide show Hirohito’s words of war remorse deleted: The Asahi Shimbun

[...]

Scholars said Hirohito's references to rearming reflected political realities of the times.

Takahisa Furukawa, a history professor at Nihon University, who went over the released documents, said Hirohito's references to amending the Constitution so Japan could rearm was a "statement of the times" in which many people assumed pacifist Article 9 would make it impossible to even establish an organization like the SDF.

"His comments are nothing more than an expression of his belief that a minimum level of defense was needed," Furukawa said. "The other references in the documents show that Hirohito had no intention of returning Japan to the militarist state it was until the end of the war."

Seiichi Chadani, an associate professor of history at Shigakukan University in Kagoshima city, said Hirohito's concerns about ensuring Japan's national security was a reflection of his own regret at having presided over a disastrous war that led to Japan's defeat in 1945.

Akira Yamada, a history professor at Meiji University who has penned a volume about Emperor Showa and World War II, said Hirohito's background molded his thinking about national security.

Yamada explained that Hirohito was the sole emperor of the modern era who underwent a military upbringing that allowed him to stand shoulder to shoulder with other world leaders.

"Even after the emperor became a 'symbol of the state' under the Constitution, (Hirohito) likely could not shift his thinking as the ruler of a military power," Yamada said.

[...]

[Durham]

I suspect that we will never get to the complete truth about Hirohito's wartime role. Who know's what documents were destroyed before the end of the war. Who knows what motivates those who knew Hirohito well to say what they are saying.

What remains however is a feeling that justice was never really done. Who is to blame for this I don't know. Despite the presence of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force control of post war Japan was very much an American show. In the end it was a political decision. The fact that someone like prince Yasuhiko Asaka was never prosecuted is particularly galling.

One thing's for sure, if our Australian cousins had been in charge Hirohito's fate would most assuredly have been guaranteed.

On a side note - it would have been interesting to hear the Duke of Edinburgh's comments on having Hirohito to stay at Buckingham Palace in 1971. I didn't know until recently that Prince Philip had been present on HMS Whelp in Tokyo Bay on the very day the Japanese signed their surrender.

[Prisma]

Docs hint Emperor Showa thought 1928 murder of Chinese warlord led to WWII loss - The Mainichi

Documents detailing the private postwar views of the late Emperor Showa that have surfaced recently suggest he believed that Japan's failure to clarify responsibility for the 1928 bombing death of Chinese warlord Zhang Zuolin by the Japanese Kwantung Army led to the country's defeat in World War II 17 years later.

"Failure to clarify the issue of punishment over the Zhang Zuolin incident led to the loosening of discipline within the army in later years. The failure to thoroughly bring those involved to justice is the origin of problems that led to the defeat," documents compiled by former grand steward Michiji Tajima quoted Emperor Showa as saying on June 8, 1951.

Emperor Showa -- known in life as Emperor Hirohito -- also repeatedly criticized a series of actions taken by Japan's military, including the bombing attack, for "overthrowing decisions from below in the military."

[...]

With regard to the Nanjing Incident in 1937, the documents show the Emperor said, "I vaguely heard from those other than relevant sources that something terrible was going on in Nanjing, but nobody openly said anything about it. So I didn't pay attention to the matter."

Akira Yamada, professor of modern Japanese history at Meiji University, said, "They (the documents) have proven that information on such a major incident reached (the Emperor) even though it wasn't an official report. There were things that could've been done such as demanding a detailed probe."

Emperor Showa was also quoted by Tajima's records as saying on the same day, "Though this is beyond my purview, (during the war) order was overthrown from below in the military, in the government and among the people, and the brazenness of the military was overlooked. Everyone has such negative things to reflect on, so my wish is for everyone to regret these things so they will not be repeated."

[...]

EDITORIAL: New glimpses of Hirohito offer a chance to review wartime history: The Asahi Shimbun

[...]In private, Hirohito was known to express remorse for Japan's colonialism. In 1982, he told his grand chamberlain, Sukemasa Irie, that “We did something truly bad to Korea.”

But Hirohito spoke with extreme caution in public, such as at news conferences, which invited questions and criticisms to his dismay. [...]

Emperor Showa contemplated abdicating for the people: docs - The Mainichi

[...] According to the newly revealed documents, however, Emperor Hirohito hinted at the possibility of his abdication in December 1949, stating, "When the treaty of peace is concluded and discussion about my abdication arises again, I could think about abdication if the situation permits."

Eyeing the possibility of handing over the throne, Emperor Hirohito even proposed to Tajima that his son and then Crown Prince Akihito (currently Emperor Emeritus Akihito) travel abroad at an early date, according to the documents.

On Aug. 22, 1951, the month before the San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed, Emperor Hirohito is quoted as saying, "In my case, taking responsibility by leaving my position would be easy as it means I can lead my life as I like." This statement came four months before his aforementioned remark that he would not hesitate to abdicate.[...]

Editorial: Emperor Showa's regret over WWII military leaders' brazenness enlightening - The Mainichi

[...] Other documents left by the former grand steward have shown that Emperor Showa had intended to express regret over the war and apologize to the public on the occasion of rulings on Class-A war criminals in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, also known as the "Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal," in November 1948. One cannot help but wonder whether Emperor Showa later continued to explore the possibility of expressing regret over the war after his hope to do so was dashed at the time.

However, the Emperor's statements that surfaced recently in the documents suggest that he may have hoped that all of the Japanese people would reflect on their failure to restrain a runaway military rather than him expressing an apology to the public and other countries as emperor.

When asked about responsibility for the war at a news conference in 1975, Emperor Showa answered, "I don't understand such figure of speech very well." Although his determination not to have another war is respectable, the issue of war responsibility could not have been avoided if the Emperor had mentioned "regret" over the war. [...]

[Prisma]

Funeral prep for Emperor Hirohito began seven years before his death: declassified documents | The Japan Times

[...]

In a Feb. 15, 1983, document the ministry’s Protocol Office said it would need to prepare a smooth response to the emperor’s death as he was then almost 82. As instructed by protocol chief Seiya Nishida, a small group began preparing around autumn 1982, it said.

[...]

A document drawn up on Dec. 8, 1982, showed the ministry asked the agency to decide whether to invite foreign guests, citing the need to make diplomatic arrangements.

In June 1982, the Imperial Household Agency asked the ministry to survey the funerals of leaders in Britain, West Germany, France and Yugoslavia. The Protocol Office examined those of Britain’s King George VI, a Swedish king and Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito, as well as Kennedy. It also studied the funerals of former prime ministers, including Shigeru Yoshida, Hayato Ikeda, Eisaku Sato and Masayoshi Ohira.

A Protocol Office document on April 12, 1983, showed details that had been worked out for Emperor Hirohito’s funeral, including transportation, accommodation and security arrangements based on examples from Ohira’s funeral in July 1980 [...]

The Feb. 24, 1989, funeral of Emperor Hirohito was attended by representatives from 164 countries, including U.S. President George W. Bush.

[Prisma]

Top aide’s notes show emperor played role in passing treaty : The Asahi Shimbun

Private remarks by Emperor Showa seemingly influenced the Diet’s decision to approve an anti-nuclear treaty, according to notes made by a former prime minister’s secretary soon to be published in a book.

Miyoji Iwano, 86, an aide to former Prime Minister Takeo Miki, kept notes that suggest the words of the emperor, who was constitutionally limited to a symbolic role for the country, “inspired” the speaker of the Lower House to help approve the ratification of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).

Under the treaty, Japan became legally unable to possess nuclear weaponry.

The discovery sheds light on the fact that Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, played a role in determining whether the treaty passed in the Diet, even though the postwar Constitution limited his role outside the realm of politics. [...]

[Prisma]

Handwritten ‘waka’ poems by Hirohito to be shown for 1st time: The Asahi Shimbun

Emperor Hirohito's scratchy penmanship will be on show for the first time with a collection of rare handwritten “waka” poems he composed in his waning years.

The special exhibition at the Gakushuin University Museum of History in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward will run from Oct. 15 through Dec. 5.

[..]

The manuscripts were donated in September 2019 by Morisuke Makino, 94, who served as “udoneri,” the traditional term for Imperial Household Agency employees whose primary task was to attend to the emperor's personal needs each day.

The jottings are on 29 sheets of paper with the characters for “Kunaicho” (Imperial Household Agency) printed on them, as well as about 10 slips of paper. They contain at least 252 poems as well as notes and comments written in pencil, most of which have never been seen before.

[...]

The manuscripts were written from around 1982 through 1987, according to the museum. In the poems, Hirohito wrote about peace, family and daily life, such as his visit to Okinawa Prefecture when he was crown prince, and his wife Nagako, the future Empress Kojun.

[...]

Makino found the manuscripts in the Fukiage section of the Imperial Palace, where Hirohito spent his later years. They were among a stack of papers Makino collected for disposal. He thought the manuscripts might be significant and kept them in his possession. He later disclosed them to The Asahi Shimbun and searched for where he could donate them.

[...]

[Prisma]

AP Archive: Emperor Showa and Empress Kojun in 1971

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTE5NZsna0A

[Prisma]

Empress Kōjun: Remembering the Life and Final Days of Japan’s Last Shōwa Royal

[...]

An Unexpected Phone Call
[...]

There was a standing agreement between the IHA and press club to hold a briefing if there was a sudden change in Empress Kōjun’s health (for instance, one of the conditions was if she developed a fever of 38 degrees Celsius or above). There had been such announcements in the past, but the empress had always recovered. However, considering her weakened state and that she had recently turned 97, I had a sinking feeling that things were more dire this time around. I quickly put the word out to press club members that there was to be an announcement.

The tension was palpable when I joined the other reporters in the briefing room—they obviously understood that this was to be more than a typical update on the imperial family. An IHA official appeared and explained that the Empress Kōjun had started having severe breathing troubles the night before and that she was now on a respirator.

[...]

Waiting for the End
The story of the empress’s health was carried on the evening news broadcasts. Many members of the press club remembered Emperor Hirohito’s slow decline after he collapsed, a long ordeal that lasted some 100 days, and started preparing for a similarly long vigil.

The IHA is a stickler for protocol, and it was my role as press club coordinator to draw up a comprehensive list of requests from among all the outlets and hash out an agreement with the agency. [...]

The IHA held a briefing at 9:30 pm and repeated that the empress was stable but that her breathing was irregular. It was obvious from the way officials hurried about, though, that some sort of preparations were underway. [...]

The next day, June 16, the IHA called a press conference at 8:00 am, ahead of the scheduled time. The agency’s deputy director announced that the empress’s condition had begun to deteriorate early that morning and that she was in critical condition.

We all anticipated the worst, only to have the director-general then announce around 4:00 pm that the empress’s health had again stabilized. It looked like we were in for the long haul, when just after 5:00 pm we started hearing scattered reports that Empress Kōjun had died. I received confirmation of this from various sources, but the IHA asked the press to keep a lid on the story until there was an official announcement. To work around this restriction we had to indicate in our reporting that the news was still unverified.

At 6:30 pm the IHA grand steward, a top aide, and the court physician gathered at a press conference to announce that the empress had passed. The time of death was 4:46 pm. They said that Emperor Akihito had cut his royal duties short and raced back to the Fukiage Palace to be by his mother’s side, barely making it in time, and that he had been holding her hand at the end.

Although such intimate details were moving, I was most struck at hearing that other than being placed on a respirator, the empress was allowed a natural death. Not even injections or IVs were administered so as to avoid subjecting her to any unnecessary suffering. Emperor Akihito had agreed to this approach, something I suspect was partially a result of having witnessed his father suffer the indignity of being kept alive by artificial means...

[Blog Real]

Hirohito as a child in 1902

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ohito_1902.jpg

[Prisma]

Kintetsu express train used by Emperor Showa to make last run | The Asahi Shimbun (includes video and photos)

The Kintetsu 12200-series model used as limited express trains that once carried Emperor Showa and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will make their last run Aug. 7, operator Kintetsu Railway Co. announced.

[...]

It was designed to offer better comfort to compete with high-speed bullet trains running on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line, which opened in 1964 when Japan hosted the Olympics Games for the first time in Tokyo. It offered reclining seats with a wider seat pitch (98 centimeters between seat rows) than bullet trains.

It also boasted Western-style toilets, rare at the time, instead of the traditional squat-style loos.

Early models were called the "New Snack Car" because they had a snack section installed with a microwave to serve hot snacks and drinks for passengers.

Members of the imperial family frequently used the train because the sacred Ise Jingu shrine in Ise and Kashiharajingu shrine in Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, are located along its routes.

Queen Elizabeth II took the VIP train in 1975.

[...]

Two trains will make their last runs on Aug. 7, operating round trips between Kintetsu Nagoya Station and Kashikojima Station in Mie Prefecture, and also between Osaka-Uehonmachi and Kashikojima stations.

Although each train can carry around 260 passengers for each one-way trip, the capacity will be limited to 120 to allow for social distancing and avoid close contact with others.

[...]

[Prisma]

Diary: Hirohito prepared for U.S. war before Pearl Harbor attack | The Asahi Shimbun

Emperor Hirohito appeared to be preparing for war against the United States about two months before Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, according to a diary that raises further questions about his wartime responsibilities.

Even government ministers were at times worried that the emperor, who was distressed that war with the United States was inevitable, was getting ahead of them in terms of battle preparations, according to the diary penned by Saburo Hyakutake (1872-1963), the grand chamberlain for the emperor.

The diary was deposited with the University of Tokyo in 2019 and became available to the public this year, which marks the 80th year of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 (Dec. 8 Japan time).

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Some documents showed that Hirohito assumed Japan would go to war and ruminated about how to end the war even before it had started.

Other records showed that he called for more aggressive operations after the war started and was happy about Japan’s results.

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Hyakutake wrote in the entry that he heard Tsuneo Matsudaira, the Imperial Household minister, say after an audience with Hirohito, “The emperor appears to have been prepared for war in the face of the tense times.”

The diary also mentioned that Koichi Kido, minister of the interior, showed concerns that the emperor was apparently running ahead of his aides.

“I occasionally have to try to stop him from going too far,” Kido was quoted by Hyakutake as saying.

The Oct. 13 entry came three days before the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe resigned en masse.

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In the entry for Nov. 20, Hyakutake wrote that Kido, again, expressed concerns about the emperor’s leaning toward war.

“The emperor’s resolve appears to be going too far,” the interior minister was quoted as saying.

Hyakutake also wrote that Kido said he “requested the emperor to say things to give the impression that Japan will exhaust all measures to pursue peace when the foreign minister (Shigenori Togo) is present.”

Hyakutake served as the grand chamberlain for eight years until 1944, the year before the war ended.

He had fought in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) as a member of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

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Hyakutake’s relatives deposited a total of 25 diaries and pocket notebooks, as well as memos, written by him to the library of the University of Tokyo’s graduate schools for law and politics.

They became available to the public in September.

Some historians have expressed surprise that Hyakutake’s diaries contained numerous entries describing political and military affairs surrounding Hirohito.

Many scholars viewed Hyakutake as an aide who “was totally dedicated only to waiting on the emperor hand and foot” and was not involved in politics.

[Curryong]

These diary entries are interesting and confirm really that Emperor Hirohito was every bit as ambitious about Japan becoming an aggressive world power in Asia as his ministers were in the 1920s and 30’s. It’s been suspected for years of course, and the US as well was implicit for obvious reasons in minimising Hirohito’s actions and motives in the run up to the war.

[Tatiana Maria]

Originally Posted by Prisma

Diary: Hirohito prepared for U.S. war before Pearl Harbor attack | The Asahi Shimbun

Interesting, thank you for sharing this.

From the information in the article, I don't think I agree with the view that the revealed diary entries refute the narrative of an emperor who reluctantly assented to the war. If, as stated, he assumed that Japan would inevitably go to war with or without his endorsement, then making battle preparations to facilitate a speedy victory and end to the war seems like a responsible precaution to take. Even if he had been as pacifistic as some of his admirers claim, one could hardly expect him to hope for Japan's defeat, which could have deleterious consequences for his people.