JAPAN'S EMPERORS

JAPAN'S EMPERORS: 1930S and 1940s TO THE PRESENT

This research paper examines the controversial role of the Emperor Hirohito (r. 1926-1989) in Japan during the period leading up to and during the Second World War, as compared his role and that of his successor Akihito thereafter.

For more than a millennium and long before American Commodore Matthew Perry's black warships entered Tokyo Bay in 1853-1854, the Imperial Throne served as an important symbol of religious, cultural and political unity as a distinctive Japanese sense of identity emerged. However, Japanese emperors reigned more than they ruled, as others exercised power in their name. Hirohito was a grandson of the Emperor Meiji (r. 1868-1912) through whom the founders of the Meiji Restoration responded to the challenge of the West by modernizing rapidly Japan's economy and institutions. Hirohito inherited from his inept father, the Emperor Taisho (r. 1912-1926), a considerably weakened throne, a failing economy and a crumbling political center. Under his stewardship, the monarchy survived the tumultuous events of the 1930s and 1940s but was considerably tarnished by its association with domestic repression, militarism, ultranationalism and Japan's ultimately disastrous foreign wars and defeat. Hirohito was either powerless or unwilling to prevent Japan's drift toward catastrophe; and he narrowly escaped being forced to abdicate or being tried as a war criminal. He nevertheless played a key role in helping Japan to a

Related Essays

Japan's Contribution to the World Economy .... typically referred by the names selected by the emperors. .... S. Blinder, "There Are Capitalists, Then There Are .... 21; CW Weinberger, "Changes in Japan Lessons for .... (3740 15 )

Religions of China, Korea & Japan .... the supposed divine descent of the Emperors, and their .... In Japan any aspects of Confucianism that supported indigenous .... Ellwood, Robert S., and Barbara A. McGraw .... (2620 10 )

Comparison of Development in Japan and Malaysia INTRODUCTION This .... 7 Upon succession, Japanese emperors select a meaningfully .... and (11) related policies.30 Japan's industrial policy is .... S. Department of Commerce, "A Glossary of .... (2982 12 )

Human Resource Management in Japan .... Upon succession, Japanese emperors select a meaningfully descriptive name .... services over the past five years in Japan. .... The Four-S Outsourcing Model provides one .... (9549 38 )

Differences in Japanese & US Companies .... Emperors have ruled Japan throughout its long history, but shoguns (military governors) were .... Taylor, S. & Napier, N. (1996, Spring). Working in Japan. .... (4938 20 )

East Asian Religions .... the supposed divine descent of the Emperors, and their .... In Japan any aspects of Confucianism that supported indigenous .... Ellwood, Robert S., and Barbara A. McGraw .... (2620 10 )

the advantage of a free and open life style." However, these impulses proved short-lived as he was nearly assassinated by a radical in 1923 and had to assume the responsibility of regent in the late stages of his father's illness. The dominant political issues during the first decade of Hirohito's reign were trends in Japan toward authoritarianism, militarism and ultranationalism. The first law curtailing freedom of the media, the Peace Preservation Law, had been enacted in 1925. In the late 1920s, Japan was plagued with serious economic difficulties, including rural poverty and later a steep decline in its foreign export markets for silk and other products which deepened in the Great Depression. According to Butow, "as economic difficulties spread across the world in the late 1920s, the Japanese military gave increasing thought to 'opening a way to the future' by implementing Japan's historic mission to expand on the continent, to secure the peace of East Asia, and to save its 600,000,000 million people from imperialistic 'oppression.'" Through a series of incidents, rebellious elements of Japan's Kwantung Army in Manchuria, a coveted source of industrial raw materials, came into conflict with their civilian and military sup

Category: Foreign - J