Akihito: Japan's war 'contrary to emperor's wishes'

[phongn]

Japan's war 'contrary to emperor's wishes': son

By Miwa Suzuki (AFP) – 20 hours ago

TOKYO — Japan's Emperor Akihito, celebrating 20 years on the throne Thursday, offered a rare defence of his father's wartime record, saying Japanese aggression had been contrary to his wishes.

The 75-year-old said he thought his father Hirohito had opposed Japan's march to war, an unusual comment on the emperor who at the time was considered divine by his people but seen as an aggressor by the Allied powers.

Akihito said that his father, posthumously called Emperor Showa in Japan after the name of his 1926-89 era, had as crown prince visited the site of the World War I battlefield of Verdun in France.

"He had taken to heart the importance of maintaining peace," Akihito said. "It is my perception that the events that led to war must have been contrary to what he would have wished."

The emperor has in the past talked about "difficulties" his father faced during the years when Japan took the path to war.
But the latest remark was clearer than his 2005 comment when he said "I wonder from time to time what feelings Emperor Showa harboured as he lived through the period."

Historians are divided on whether the emperor was responsible for Japan's aggression before and during World War II or whether he was the puppet of military and political leaders.

Hirohito was not tried at the Tokyo war tribunal that sentenced to death seven military and government leaders, including wartime premier Hideki Tojo.

Akihito was speaking to the media last week, but his comments were embargoed for publication until the celebration Thursday of his accession to the Chrysanthemum throne, in line with usual imperial household practice.

Akihito, who under the post-war constitution serves a largely ceremonial function and is barred from commenting on politics, said the events during his father's era "taught us many lessons."

"I believe it is essential for us to learn from the historical facts and prepare ourselves for the future," he said.

Many Asian countries still hold bitter memories of Japanese aggression and have complained that Japan has whitewashed its past in school textbooks.

Japan's centre-left Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who took power in September, has pledged stronger ties with Asia and said he and his cabinet ministers will not visit Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni war shrine.

Akihito again urged people to remember history when he spoke at the official anniversary ceremony before some 1,300 lawmakers, diplomats and other guests.

"I think it is important for the country's future not to forget the fact that today's Japan was built on the great sacrifice and to tell it correctly to people born after the war," he said.

Hatoyama said in a speech: "We will keep in mind Your Majesty's wish, learn from past history and build a Japan in which other countries can trust."

Akihito's coronation ceremony was held on November 12, 1990, after the end of the mourning period for Hirohito.

More than 9,000 people visited an imperial palace gate Thursday to enter their names in special commemorative books, the palace said.

Some 50,000 people were expected to gather for privately organised commemorative events near the moated palace in central Tokyo for performances of traditional and modern music.

Some things never seem to change

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Akihito is a weird cat, as they'd say. He's openly noted the Imperial household's Korean ancestry and the Korean ethnic origins of the Japanese, which has of course been covered up in Japan where nobody wants to acknowledge the truth of any connection with Koreans, who are still seen as inferior. But on the other hand he defends his father's war record. Ah, well; that is still better than what we usually expect from Japan. Hirohito should have never been allowed to continue reigning, however. He should have been removed and forcibly confined as a monk in a buddhist monastery (which was what was traditionally done to Emperors in Japan who were deposed, so it would have fit in within Japanese cultural norms), and Akihito should have been immediately made Emperor in 1945 under the most liberal/progressive regency council which could possibly be obtained from within the extended Imperial family.

[TC Pilot]

Since he doesn't seem to have actually been quoted about his comments on Hirohito, it's hard to pass judgement on what he said. It could be as simple as "He wanted peace, but was forced to war by strategic imperatives," or it could also be the revisionist "He was just an innocent puppet." Oh well, at least he's not saying the Rape of Nanking never happened.

[Simon_Jester]

Akihito is a weird cat, as they'd say. He's openly noted the Imperial household's Korean ancestry and the Korean ethnic origins of the Japanese, which has of course been covered up in Japan where nobody wants to acknowledge the truth of any connection with Koreans, who are still seen as inferior. But on the other hand he defends his father's war record. Ah, well; that is still better than what we usually expect from Japan. Hirohito should have never been allowed to continue reigning, however. He should have been removed and forcibly confined as a monk in a buddhist monastery (which was what was traditionally done to Emperors in Japan who were deposed, so it would have fit in within Japanese cultural norms), and Akihito should have been immediately made Emperor in 1945 under the most liberal/progressive regency council which could possibly be obtained from within the extended Imperial family.

Hmm. Interesting.

I know the Byzantines would sometimes ship deposed emperors off to a monastery; I didn't know the Japanese did it too. Any specific examples?

[Sarevok]

*sigh*

Sea Skimmer sig once had a quote from legendary IJN ace pilot Saburo Sakai. He took not one but two 30 caliber bullets to the head for the Emperor and yet managed to fly despite being blinded by his own blood and pain. His quote went something like "Over three million died fighting for the Emperor yet when it was all over he claimed he had nothing to do with it. What kind of man does that ?".

Something to think about.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

I know the Byzantines would sometimes ship deposed emperors off to a monastery; I didn't know the Japanese did it too. Any specific examples?

They weren't just deposed off to a monastery. They were for the most part, blinded, and their tongues cut off. Just to be absolutely sure they don't turn into particularly troublesome priests.

[Duckie]

The blinding also served to prevent them from ever returning to attempt to reclaim the throne, since there was some kind of requirement that the Emperor be physically whole.

[Simon_Jester]

I know the Byzantines would sometimes ship deposed emperors off to a monastery; I didn't know the Japanese did it too. Any specific examples?

They weren't just deposed off to a monastery. They were for the most part, blinded, and their tongues cut off. Just to be absolutely sure they don't turn into particularly troublesome priests.

The blinding, at least, I am aware of as a common political tactic along with the "ship them to a monastery." My impression was that the two were sometimes combined and sometimes used separately.

But again, I'm really more interested in the empire I know even less about; I intuit that this practice of mutilating deposed emperors was not common in Japan, though I have no objective knowledge of that.

[Pelranius]

Akihito is a weird cat, as they'd say. He's openly noted the Imperial household's Korean ancestry and the Korean ethnic origins of the Japanese, which has of course been covered up in Japan where nobody wants to acknowledge the truth of any connection with Koreans, who are still seen as inferior. But on the other hand he defends his father's war record. Ah, well; that is still better than what we usually expect from Japan. Hirohito should have never been allowed to continue reigning, however. He should have been removed and forcibly confined as a monk in a buddhist monastery (which was what was traditionally done to Emperors in Japan who were deposed, so it would have fit in within Japanese cultural norms), and Akihito should have been immediately made Emperor in 1945 under the most liberal/progressive regency council which could possibly be obtained from within the extended Imperial family.

One of the Japanese emperors was deposed by a Tokugawa shogun and tried to troublesome afterwards, though no one really listened to him.

In some ways, Hirohito staying on and trying weasel his way out of responsibility for the war damaged the prestige of the Imperial Throne greatly in Japan, including with the ultra nationalist circles.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

It definitely did. Even Mishima Yukio, who was responsible for the 25 November Incident back in 1970, viciously condemned Emperor Hirohito for his failure to take responsibility even though he wanted power restored to the Imperial throne.

[Neko_Oni]

One of the Japanese emperors was deposed by a Tokugawa shogun and tried to troublesome afterwards, though no one really listened to him.

As early as the 1400's the Imperial Family had already been sidelined by the Samurai-led Bakufu government. In fact in 1330's a Shogun kicked the then Emperor out of Kyoto and created a new line of Emperors. It wasn't really until the Meiji Restoration that the Imperial Family had any real power.

[hongi]

*sigh*

Sea Skimmer sig once had a quote from legendary IJN ace pilot Saburo Sakai. He took not one but two 30 caliber bullets to the head for the Emperor and yet managed to fly despite being blinded by his own blood and pain. His quote went something like "Over three million died fighting for the Emperor yet when it was all over he claimed he had nothing to do with it. What kind of man does that ?".

Something to think about.

That pilot didn't believe that the rape of Nanking happened. I was pretty disgusted when I found that out.

[Tanasinn]

That a man doesn't want to believe that his own father was an accomplice to brutal genocide is not particularly surprising to me, even in the context of the normal Japanese discomfort with discussing their part in the war and its atrocities.

[hongi]

For those members who have lived or are living in Japan - is denialism a minority opinion on the ground?

[Big Orange]

He's openly noted the Imperial household's Korean ancestry and the Korean ethnic origins of the Japanese, which has of course been covered up in Japan where nobody wants to acknowledge the truth of any connection with Koreans, who are still seen as inferior.

You need to employ severe mental dissonance to be racist anyway. I wouldn't say the Japanese occupation of Korea came across as particularily gentle, for one there was the severe economic shafting one expects from a colonial occupation and the drafting of "comfort" women, but the South Koreans are racist assholes who teach politicized rubbish in their schools as well, and many POWs can attest to the brutality of Korean auxiliary guards (known as the Gunzoku).

[Pelranius]

For those members who have lived or are living in Japan - is denialism a minority opinion on the ground?

It depends on the generation. The older people tend to be more likely to deny things. Though a lot of people from all age groups are apparently indifferent and not very well educated about the matter (to put it nicely), hence the expressions of puzzlement when ever China or Korea gets outraged.