Hirohito in 1986 (File photo / Reuters)

Did you catch this report in the New York Times last week? “Aide’s Diary Suggests Hirohito Agonized Over His War Responsibility.” (Article here.) All of this is highly interesting. The lead paragraph: “Japan’s wartime emperor, Hirohito, was anguished right up until his death about his responsibility in World War II, according to a newly examined diary by one of his close aides.”


A reminder, from the Times: “Although the Japanese waged the war in Hirohito’s name, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Allied powers’ supreme commander during the postwar occupation of Japan, helped shape a narrative that absolved the emperor of direct responsibility for the war.”

Yes. For better or worse — almost certainly better — that’s what we did. But let me give you a memory. President Reagan and Emperor Hirohito had a warm meeting with each other in 1983. My father thought this was remarkable. He had been a boy in Washington, D.C., during World War II. There were lots of air-raid drills, etc. And “we thought of Hitler and Hirohito the same way,” my dad said.

Ol’ Hitler died in his Götterdämmerung, a Wagnerian to the end.


Hirohito’s chamberlain was Shinobu Kobayashi. I will again quote from the Times, which quotes Kobayashi: “‘Only a few people talk about (your) war responsibility,’ the chamberlain told the emperor, according to his diary. ‘Given how the country has developed today from postwar rebuilding, it is only a page in history. You do not have to worry.’”


Only a page in history. I think of something said by that German rightist earlier this summer. I’m talking about Alexander Gauland, the co-leader of the AfD (for “Alternative für Deutschland” — this is a literal alt-Right). Speaking to his movement’s youth wing, Gauland said, “We have a glorious history and it, dear friends, lasted longer than those blasted twelve years. Hitler and the Nazis are just a speck of bird poop in more than 1,000 years of successful German history.”

Oh, don’t be so modest: The Nazis and their cooperators turned Germany into a totalitarian state, started a world war, and murdered two-thirds of European Jewry. An impressive record for twelve years’ work.

Let me again quote the Times:

The latest insight into Hirohito’s thinking comes as his son, Emperor Akihito, is concluding his reign. Akihito plans to abdicate the throne next April, becoming the first Japanese emperor in 200 years to step down before his death. Akihito, 84, has acted more clearly as an emissary of reconciliation by visiting surrounding Asian countries that suffered under Japan’s aggression during the war.

A couple of months ago, I sat down with Christopher Szpilman, a scholar of Japan, and particularly a scholar of militarism and fascism. (He is a son of Wladyslaw Szpilman, the Holocaust survivor whose life was depicted in the 2002 movie The Pianist.) I wrote about him here. A few days ago, I asked him about this news concerning Hirohito: his anguish in his old age.

“I have not read the Kobayashi papers,” Szpilman replied, “but all this makes sense” He continued,

The papers apparently show that the emperor was tormented by what he felt was his responsibility for the war. As head of state, he was responsible, and I think it puts him in good light that he recognized this responsibility. Responsibility does not necessarily mean culpability, however. He may not have been directly culpable for the disaster — in the sense that he did not cause it — but obviously the fact that under his reign millions of Japanese lost their lives must have tormented him.

More:

He may have felt toward the end of his life that the tragedy could have been averted had he intervened more forcefully on some crucial occasions, that he had been weak when he should have been strong, etc. But none of that implies that he supported the war. It is of course possible that some new materials will emerge which will prove that the emperor was guilty (they would force me to change my views), but the Kobayashi papers reveal only his torment, not his guilt or his criminality. It is good to hear that he was tormented and felt remorse as it is clear that innumerable crimes were committed in his name and again it is good to know that he was aware of the horror the Japanese unleashed on the neighbouring countries and ultimately on themselves.

One more word:

Akihito, the present emperor, who is due to abdicate next year, is also aware of these issues, but in his case there has never been any doubt. He was too young to be involved in the war and all of his statements during his term as emperor show his awareness of the issues involved.

A coda: Not long ago, a pope resigned, and now an emperor is resigning, or abdicating. These are indeed interesting time, but aren’t they all? (And yes, I am aware of the ancient Chinese curse — or what is alleged to be an ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.”)