Reddit reviews Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan

This is interesting on the topic too:


http://www.amazon.com/Hirohito-Making-Modern-Japan-Herbert/dp/0060931302#




> Bix shows what it was like to be trained from birth for a lone position at the apex of the nation's political hierarchy and as a revered symbol of divine status. Influenced by an unusual combination of the Japanese imperial tradition and a modern scientific worldview, the young emperor gradually evolves into his preeminent role, aligning himself with the growing ultranationalist movement, perpetuating a cult of religious emperor worship, resisting attempts to curb his power, and all the while burnishing his image as a reluctant, passive monarch. Here we see Hirohito as he truly was: a man of strong will and real authority.

Supported by a vast array of previously untapped primary documents, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan is perhaps most illuminating in lifting the veil on the mythology surrounding the emperor's impact on the world stage. Focusing closely on Hirohito's interactions with his advisers and successive Japanese governments, Bix sheds new light on the causes of the China War in 1937 and the start of the Asia-Pacific War in 1941. And while conventional wisdom has had it that the nation's increasing foreign aggression was driven and maintained not by the emperor but by an elite group of Japanese militarists, the reality, as witnessed here, is quite different. Bix documents in detail the strong, decisive role Hirohito played in wartime operations, from the takeover of Manchuria in 1931 through the attack on Pearl Harbor and ultimately the fateful decision in 1945 to accede to an unconditional surrender. In fact, the emperor stubbornly prolonged the war effort and then used the horrifying bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, together with the Soviet entrance into the war, as his exit strategy from a no-win situation. From the moment of capitulation, we see how American and Japanese leaders moved to justify the retention of Hirohito as emperor by whitewashing his wartime role and reshaping the historical consciousness of the Japanese people. The key to this strategy was Hirohito's alliance with General MacArthur, who helped him maintain his stature and shed his militaristic image, while MacArthur used the emperor as a figurehead to assist him in converting Japan into a peaceful nation. Their partnership ensured that the emperor's image would loom large over the postwar years and later decades, as Japan began to make its way in the modern age and struggled -- as it still does -- to come to terms with its past.

It's combination of both what you're saying and what yordles_win is saying. Read Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. Hirohito had a much bigger role in the events of WWII than most American historians like to admit ... BUT he also was frequently circumvented towards the end of the war and at the very end, it was the army that negotiated with America, and not the emperor.

That last sentence is a whole debate in itself. How responsible was Hirohito for his country's acts and how much of it was just rampant militarism in his name. There's a decent book on the topic called Hirohito and the making of modern Japan that deals with the subject however it is not the only perspective.

Broadly speaking, most in Japan are of the belief that it was the militant minority that took control during the period and that Hirohito was more or less just going a long with it. That's the popular notion but it is by no means necessarily correct. I'm not sure where I read that, but it was in an academic article I read for my thesis.

Having just finished Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan (http://www.amazon.com/Hirohito-Making-Modern-Japan-Herbert/dp/0060931302) I can tell you that Hirohito is directly responsible for pushing Japan into war with America.

An interesting aside to this is how close Emperoro Hirohito of WWII fame/infamy was chronologically to the Meji Restoration that we all associate with samurai and bushido and the like; Emperor Meiji was Emperor Hirohito's grandfather. Japan's transformation from a feudal society utilizing horses and swords to an industrialized nation, then a world power, was incredibly swift.

A very interesting Hirohito biography, lots of good info about him and Japan from the start of the twentieth century to the American occupation of postwar Japan: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0060931302

>Are you trying to say that the US is more centralized and top-down oriented than fascist dictatorships/Imperial Japan was?

This is what happens when you edit out the end of the sentence. It was a dictatorship with a MENTAL DEFECTIVE at the helm. Thus there was a total break down in chain of command. Read Bix's book Hirohito for more.

Learn to read for comprehension, not snip out bits that catch your eye.