Emperor Hirohito and Japan's Role in World War II

Michinomiya Hirohito was born to the Japanese imperial family in Tokyo on April 29, 1901. He was the first son of Japan's crown prince Yoshihito, who later became the Emperor Taisho. Educated in Japan, Hirohito was a microbiologist who later developed an interest in marine biology.

In 1921, Hirohito became the first Japanese crown prince to go abroad, traveling to Europe. There, he was especially enchanted with the freedom and informality of the English royal family.

After he returned home, Hirohito's father retired due to mental illness, and Hirohito was named prince regent, a role that allowed him to conduct business in his father's stead.

In 1924, he married princess Nagako Kuni, with whom he would eventually have seven children. Following the death of his father in 1926, Hirohito became emperor of Japan. He was 25 years old.

As emperor, Hirohito was considered a manifestation of god, and thus the nation's highest spiritual authority, a concept the Japanese had adopted under Emperor Meiji in 1868. He was also commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Japan was in the midst of a violent and turbulent period when Hirohito became emperor in 1926 — ironic, given that his reign had been given the title Shōwa, which means "bright peace" or "enlightened harmony." Things would only get worse.

Although a small pro-democracy movement had just begun in Japan, militarism was also rising. The economy was tanking, which soured everyone's mood, and Japan and China were in conflict.

This Sino-Japanese discord culminated in the Japanese committing two major atrocities under Hirohito's reign.

And then, in 1940, the Empire of Japan entered World War II by signing the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, forming an alliance with the "Axis."

Some historians believe Hirohito was only marginally involved in these events, if at all. And they point to the fact that Hirohito didn't want to enter World War II, preferring diplomacy. Yet Hirohito did eventually confirm Japan's plan to attack Pearl Harbor.

He also operated a war room within the Aoyama Palace, at times gave instructions to his military commanders and bestowed a service decoration upon Dr. Shiro Ishii, who led a gruesome medical experimentation team during the war that was just as horrific as that of Germany's Josef Mengele.

The Axis Weakens

By summer of 1945, Japan's allies in Italy and Germany had been beaten into submission by the allied forces of western Europe, and their fascist leaders had died unceremoniously.

The island nation was quickly becoming surrounded by a U.S.-led offensive in the south and a northern offensive by the Soviet Union via the Korean peninsula.

Devastating Bombings

Japan's cities were also subject frequent bombing raids by the U.S. air force, culminating in the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, respectively, in 1945. Between the destruction of these bombs and the looming threat of a massive ground invasion, Japan had nowhere to turn and no prospects of victory.

"Hirohito had weekly military briefings, met with members of the privy council and had his own advisors," Culver says. "He was very much a part of it."

Near the war's end, when the Japanese government leaders were arguing over whether or not to unconditionally surrender to the Allies, Emperor Hirohito declared that is was time to capitulate Japan's surrender.

If Hirohito was so involved, how did he avoid prosecution for war crimes? That was largely thanks to General Douglas MacArthur, who was appointed Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) in September, 1945, during the United States-led Allied Occupation of Japan.

MacArthur's job was to help stabilize the country, and one of his first actions was to decide whether Hirohito should be tried as a war criminal.

Avoiding War Crime Charges

Although there were arguments on both sides, MacArthur decided he should not be charged and tried. Japan would be ungovernable, he reasoned, if the Allies prosecuted the citizens' emperor and spiritual leader.

"It was extremely important for the Americans to develop a positive relationship with Japan in the post-war period," says Culver. "If Hirohito went to trial, there was a concern this would lead to divisions in Japan, and the re-emergence of leftists and communism."

In addition, it was in the best interests of the U.S. if Japan was transformed into a democratic bulwark against communism, as the country was encircled by communism in countries such as China and the former Soviet Union. There was also some exoticization going on, according to Culver.

"We had Japanese American internment camps in America, but no German American internment camps," she says. "There was this idea that the Japanese were so different from us, they had to be treated differently."

So Hirohito was left alone.

Rebranding the Emperor for Modern Japan

A new Japanese constitution was drafted that left the monarchy in place but declared the emperor a symbolic position. The notion of the emperor as a deity was banished, and political power was awarded to elected representatives. And American officials began portraying Hirohito as a peaceful, democratic figure, Culver says.

In 2018, a diary from Hirohito's imperial chamberlain, Shinobu Kobayashi, revealed the emperor was agonizing over the fact that people were blaming him for the atrocities Japan had perpetrated during the war and the preceding conflict with China.

But while he may have felt some true guilt and repentance, his critics argue that Hirohito should never have been let off the hook back in 1945. The conflicted and conflicting emperor died on January 7, 1989, leaving a complex legacy and an eternal mark on Japanese history.