Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan

Synopsis

"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." [Amazon]
I listened to a 1999 C-SPAN interview of author about this book. Herbert Bix lived in Japan for 15 years. He first went to Japan when he was in the Navy for 4 years, and he met his wife there. He speaks and reads Japanese. What is Japanese militarism all about? Hirohito was not a puppet; he was not a dictator. Meiji was his grandfather. Hirohito was emperor from 1926 until 1989.

RefTags

Hirohito

Released

2001

Location

East Asia

Setting

Japan went to war with China in 1894; were forced to return seized land by West. Japan took possession of Formosa. After WWI, Japan became one of the Great Powers.