Mr. Araujo,

Thank you very much for your reply.

You presumed the emperor to be a significant part of Japanese society. You are not mistaken. You are quite right. Though policically impotent, the emperor was an important part in moden Japan.



Japanese leaders, like Hirobumi Ito, of the Meiji period (1868-1912) felt an urgent need to build a modern nation-state in Japan. Ito studied Europe and found all European states, whether republics, kingdoms, or empires, had a common social and cultural terrain upon which they had been built, namely Christianity. He tried to find out what would fulfil the role of Christianity in Japan. He "argued the emperor's function was not to rule, but to define and preserve by his superior authority the framework within which government worked. This was achieved in Europe by Chirstianity and constitutional theory, he pointed out. In Japan, neither Shinto nor Buddhism could in this sense provide a religious sanction. Nor did Japan have a relevant constitutional tradition of her own. It followed that 'the one intitution which can become the cornerstone of our country is the Imperiral House (W. G. Beasley, The Rise of Modern Japan.)"



"The actual terms of the constitution, its underlying principles, and its first twenty years of operation all combined to make the emperor function essentially as a symbol. He was head of State; the various ruling entities and factions governed in his name, and his presence was at least a reminder of their final responsibilty to compose their differences and carry out a concerted policy....the throne subsumed, in a way no other institutions could, general feelings about Japan's identity destiny as a nation (R. H. P. Mason and J. G. Caiger, A History of Japan.)"



The government decided to make war on China in 1894. Mutsuhito, Hirohito's grandfather, was timid and afraid of war with China, and hesitating to give imperial sanction to the decision. So the government started fighting without it. Ten years later, when the government decided to make war on Russia, Mutsuhito was very afraid but since it was his constitutional obligation, he agreed. He said, however, to his intimate aides, "This is not my war."



Hirohito was 25 years old when he became emperor after his father's death. There were a lot of much older generals and high-ranking officers. Many of them looked down upon him as a green horn lacking in the guts.

Though not vested with any political power, he tried to restrain the arrogant army by asking questions and making suggestions.

It is generally thought, mistakenly, that he made the national decision of surrender in August, 1945. This is totally wrong. The government was divided, and what he did was to persuade hesitating and unconvinced leaders to agree to the prime minister, the foreign and navy ministers, etc. who favored accepting the Potsdam Declaration for surrender.



Where did his persuasiveness come from? From his semi-religious, high moral and moralistic reason and reasonableness. "Japanese ultra-nationalists were loyal to their conception of what the emperor ought to be. To the emperor as he was they were grossly disloyal...(Richard Storry, A History of Modern Japan.)"