A provocative but unpersuasive apologia for the Japanese emperor.
Was Hirohito a war criminal? No, Hoyt says, basing his argument
primarily on interviews with former members of the Imperial Palace
staff: The emperor was "a man of good will and peaceful intentions,
caught up in the swirl of events of a turbulent period." Hoyt
asserts that Hirohito intended his reign to promote peace in Japan
and the world, and he contends that the emperor was manipulated by
power-mad and expansionist generals, deprived of information, kept
a virtual prisoner in the Imperial Palace, and constrained from
exercising real power by limitations established by the Meiji
Constitution. Hoyt points out, however, that Hirohito was capable
of affecting Japanese political development, most spectacularly
during the "2-26-36 Incident," in which junior army officers
murdered members of Japan's cabinet and very nearly took control of
the government - until Hirohito intervened. The author also admits
that Hirohito failed to intervene during much of the Pacific War,
and even got "caught up in the euphoria of the moment" and "sent
congratulatory messages to imperial general headquarters" as Japan
attacked Pearl Harbor, Guam, Singapore, the Philippines, and China.
Hoyt also argues (without citing any authority) that Hirohito was
ignorant of Japanese atrocities during the war. After briefly
discussing Hirohito's long but uneventful postwar life, and the
meaning of his reign for Japanese contemporaries, Hoyt says that
"Westerners cannot expect the Japanese to wear sackcloth and ashes
forever" in remorse over the war; justifies the failure of Japan's
educational system to teach the truth about Japanese atrocities;
and suggests that "it would be a good idea" for the world to "stop
trying to remind Japan" about the war. Well written, but Hoyt adds
little here to our knowledge of Hirohito the man, while his
thoughts about Hirohito the emperor amount to an anithistorical
polemic. (Kirkus Reviews)
Hoyt's biography, taking advantage of recent posthumous
revelations of a Japanese foreign service diplomat, portrays
Hirohito as a man of peace held captive by his role in Japanese
society and government . . . "Library Journal
"
A successful new book from a topnotch writer . . . "Booklist
"
. . . provocative . . . "Kirkus Reviews
"
Was Emperor Hirohito to blame for Japan's expansionist military
policies--and its atrocities--in World War II? Was he out to make
the world his empire? This most extensive biography of the emperor
in English challenges portrayals of Hirohito as either an unworldly
scientist or a swashbuckling conspirator who tried to conquer the
globe with military might. Using sources uncovered as recently as
1991, Hoyt reveals that the emperor was fundamentally a
peace-loving man caught in a turbulent period when the Japanese
military gained extraordinary power. He became the virtual prisoner
of an Imperial system that prevented him from leading his country
into an era of peace and prosperity, his boyhood dream. Hoyt's
account, backed by a decade of research, details the emperor's
repeated attempts to thwart the Imperial Army's headlong drive
toward war. Even when defeat was certain, Hoyt maintains, Hirohito
had to outmaneuver the army in order to surrender to Allied forces.
Only then, in postwar years, did the emperor see his wishes for his
country come true.
To help the reader assess the emperor's life, Hoyt begins by
examining the years preceding Hirohito's reign. He then focuses on
the Manchurian incidents, the struggle for power in Japan, the
China war, the global conflict and Japan's role in it, and the
country's final capitulation. Critical passages on events preceding
and during World War II, supported by the recently released diaries
of men close to the emperor, detail the process by which Hirohito
increasingly lost power as the army gained control. Turning his
attention to the post-war years, Hoyt chronicles Japan's economic
growth and the changing role of the emperor in Japanese society.
Photographs from Japanese sources enhance the narrative. Hirohito:
The Emperor and the Man offers new insight into the motives of a
widely misunderstood leader. Hoyt's Hirohito is a quiet man with
scholarly leanings; a patriot who loved his country but also
admired Western qualities; a monarch who wished to act responsibly
at a critical juncture but lacked the authority to do so.
General
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