2. Hirohito

Position: The Spiritual Head and the Japanese Chief of State

Hirohito became emperor of Japan on December 25, 1926, following the death of his father. His reign was designated Shōwa (“Bright Peace,” or “Enlightened Harmony”). The Meiji Constitution (promulgated 1889) had invested the emperor with supreme authority, but in practice he generally gave his assent to policies formulated by his ministers and advisers. On occasion, however, he asserted his authority, most notably when he ordered the suppression of an attempted coup by several military officers in February 1936.

Hirohito reluctantly supported the war against China (1931-32) and the invasion of Manchuria in 1937. However, he approved the attack on Pearl Harbor that led to Japan and the United States being drawn into the Second World War.

When the promised quick victory over the Allies did not take place, Hirohito became critical of the political leaders and this led to the removal of Prime Minister Hideki Tojo on 18th July 1944. After the loss of Okinawa Hirohito called on his ministers to seek a negotiated end to the conflict. However, his government refused, claiming that Japan and Germany could still win the war.

Hirohito loved the study of marine biology and wrote several books on the subject.

There has been considerable debate among historians about the role Hirohito played during Japan’s militaristic period from the early 1930s to 1945, the end of World War II. Many have asserted that he had grave misgivings about war with the United States and was opposed to Japan’s alliance with Germany and Italy (the Axis Powers) but that he was constrained to go along with the militarists who increasingly came to dominate the armed forces and the government. Other historians have claimed that Hirohito was actively involved in the planning of Japan’s expansionist policies from the Japanese invasion of Manchuria (now northeastern China) in 1931 to the end of the war. Still others posit that the truth lies somewhere between those two interpretations.

The Emperor as head of the Imperial General Headquarters on 29 April 1943

Nonetheless, in August 1945, when Japan was facing defeat and opinion among the country’s leaders was divided between those advocating surrender and those insisting on a desperate defense of the home islands against an anticipated invasion by the Allied Powers, Hirohito settled the dispute in favour of those urging peace. He broke the precedent of imperial silence on August 15, when he made a national radio broadcast to announce Japan’s acceptance of the Allies’ terms of surrender. In a second historic broadcast, made on January 1, 1946, Hirohito repudiated the traditional quasi-divine status of Japan’s emperors.

Emperor Hirohito visits war victims in Yokohama in February 1946.

Emperor Hirohito in the "Jewel Voice Broadcast," a call to the Japanese people to surrender:

"Should we continue to fight, it would not only result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.

Such being the case, how are we to save the millions of our subjects or to atone ourselves before the hallowed spirits of our imperial ancestors? This is the reason why we have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers [of Japanese unconditional surrender to the Allies]."

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