Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan

Rating:
Summary: Probably the Best Biography, But Not the best Read
Review: If you are considering any biography on Hirohito then this is without a doubt the best in either Japanese or English. Bix' research is thorough, original, penetrating and incisive. He is able to use the best available Japanese sources and compile a credible personality profile of Hirohito which allows one to really get into the head of this enigmatic head of one of the 20th Century's truly militaristic society.

Bix' argument is that Hirohito was in turn both a product and an perpetuator of a society built upon, militaristic chauvinism, racism, a distain for liberal democratic values and institutions and an austere emotional wasteland, where virtue was framed in terms of endurance, forbearance, and suffering for the nation and ultimately the emperor.

As such Hirohito is as much to blame for what Japan was, when he was born, and what it later become during WWII; a country largely devoid of logic and compromise in its foreign relations, where any concession was viewed as weakness and, worse, loss of face. Hirohito was responsible for crimes of commission and crimes of ommission in the conduct of Japan before and during WWII (a fact that is only surprising to some Japanese): he indeed did alternatively aid, abett and encourage the military, while at the same time harbouring poetic ideas of universal world peace and a notion that other Asian races were really "brothers" who would eventually see the benefit of cooperating with the bigger brother of Japan. In truth these gentler urges rarely overcame others in favour of lording it over other Asians and although he doubted his own divinity, he saw it as necessary to make Japan strong and to subdue, democracy, marxism, and any other value or belief that did not support emperor worship. A notion that dovetailed very well with the Japanese Army and Navy.

When this policy ensured Japanese aggression, the death of 50 Million Chinese and Koreans, the barbarisation of the Japanese army by a bloody code of "bushido", and, ultimately the destruction of Japan itself, it was clear to Hirohito that the psychology of militarism was really not a path that Japan could tread again in the postwar years. However, an apology was not forthcoming from Hirohito, and is still not forthcoming from his son, the current emperor. It is this inability to look the past squarely in the face that still convulses the Asian region with other Asian nations having little love for Japan and absolutely no trust.

This is largely an academic book. You will not find too many sweeping historical passages which really grab and hook you for long hours. We are given detailed examples of Hirohito's private life, education and influential personalities who surrounded him. It is not a text on modern Japanese history and despite the title "Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan" there is little linkage and detail of general Japanese historical events... that is not the scope of this book.

There is also, as is so often the case, a lack of clear maps and name lists of influential people surrounding Hirohito, which change very often. Such a series of diagrams would have added more to the flow of the text.

I read a lot of narrative history (see my other reviews) but I would not read this book again if given a chance. The main reason is the real academic nature of the prose with Hirohito being the nexus of every event. As such I at times longed to be given tasty tidbits and morsels of historical information on other peoples, places, and events marginally described in the book. That is not Bix' purpose of the text, but it would have made it a much more ejoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: HIROHITO SHOULD HAVE BEEN EXECUTED IN A FIRING SQUAD
Review: Bix's book is excellent. But he only writing something that we the informed knew all along. That Hirohito is no god. He is not divine and that he was the mastermind behind Japan's aggression. The bastard should have been killed. The American Administration allowed him to continue his reign...and that is plain stupid and irresponsible. Hirohito has killed millions in Asia and devastated Asian nations. He should have had his head chopped off like a common criminal. This is one of the greatest injustices in the 20th century....to allow him to go scot free.

Rating:
Summary: Revisionism in the Best Sense of the Term
Review: Mr. Bix's book well deserves the many accolades it has won - the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award among them. It represents the most comprehensive, well argued and carefully documented modern presentation of the case for viewing the Emperor Hirohito as an active "war lord," differing from Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini only in the indirection of his operational style. The Showa Emperor was an enthusiastic participant in the politics, ideology and conquests of the war years, but he hid behind the myth and ritual of his ceremonially divine status, protected by a loyal coterie of court officials. The exigencies of the postwar occupation and the historical amnesia of subsequent generations in Japan and elsewhere enabled Hirohito to escape the consequences of his actions. Mr. Bix's fair but damning political biography makes an impressive attempt to redress the balance. My only serious complaint is that the paperback edition lacks a bibliography. Also, I could have done with a bit more background on the events of the Meiji restoration and the nature and practice of Shinto. But these quibbles do not stand in the way of a warm recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: A direct line of descent from Ameratsu
Review: There are almost as many issues and questions that are raised as there are fascinating and revealing insights provided by HIROHITO AND THE MAKING OF MODERN JAPAN. The substantive subject of the book is of course Hirohito and his 63 year reign as Emperor of Japan. More specifically Bix looks at the public image of Hirohito. An image founded in divinity, supported by religious cult worship of the Emperor as a living God, directly descended from the Sun Goddess of Japan's creation myth. It is an image tarnished through association with the ultra-nationalists that ruled during WWII; and then burnished to a bright shine with help from Douglas MacArthur following Japan's defeat, to allow the occupation government to administer a peaceful country through its Emperor.

It should be interesting to hear what Bix says about how he thinks the book will be received in Japan (he will be on CSPAN's Booknotes program this Sunday). I wondered why the titles of the sources had been left in Japanese but I now realize that this is his intended audience. Japan is still struggling with dealing with its war record and the rest of Asia was recently up in arms over Japan's insensitivity on the matter. Along comes HIROHITO.., at 800 pages it's a long read but the books radical reassessment of the Emperor will ensure that it's talked about for some time; more importantly it probably will mean talking about Japan's role in WWII. If much of that talk takes place in Japan, all the better.

"Books will speak plain when counsellors blanch" (Francis Bacon)

Rating:
Summary: Great historical expose with lessons for today's Japan
Review: Though Mr. Bix sets out to topple well-honed myths about Japan's late emperor, I finished the book still thinking that Hirohito was manipulated by his court advisors(genro) and to a lesser extent politicians and military men(though much more subtly than I'd previously thought). Nonetheless, this incredibly well-researched(Mr. Bix obviously anticipated alot of skepticism and prepared for it) book has forever changed my image of the all-too-human diety, as well as MacArthur. The pure disdain both these powerful men held for the common man is nothing short of appalling. Unfortunately, this disdain, and a belief that the populace in general is strictly on a "need to know" basis seems to persist among Japan's current leadership. That is one of the similarities between then and now that struck me when reading this book in conjunction with Alex Kerr's "Dogs and Demons", another excellent book on Japan. Even though Japan is supposed to be run under a reformed system now(liberal democracy), one important thing seems not to have changed. Under neither system does there exist a structure to form policy when things aren't going so well(crisis management). Whether managing a lost war or broken economic system, neither power structure seems to able to admit the existence of crisis, let alone come up with real solutions. Both systems defray responsibility to such a degree that they only function when things are going well. This book succintly exemplifies this tragedy again and again and that is one of the major reasons it should be read.

Rating:
Summary: we've waited a long time for this book
Review: Bix has done a superlative job of assessing the Japanese emperor's role in starting and prosecuting the Pacific War. Unlike such gotcha! publications as the Seagraves' The Yamato Dynasty, this book relies almost entirely on Japanese sources. It is streets ahead of Yamato, and even such earlier attempts as those by David Bergamini.

In the end, of course, Bix fails to find the smoking gun. The Japanese simply did too good a job of obscuring the emperor's role and protecting him after the war (an effort supported by General MacArthur for very good reasons). But the issue of whether or not Hirohito was a war criminal is now beside the point. His story is a fascinating one, and it sheds light on the way Japan was governed during the 1930s and 1940s. The important thing is to expand our understanding, and Bix does just that, even though the final verdict on Hirohito must the the Scotch one of "not proven."

Rating:
Summary: Solid Analysis
Review: The strongest element of this biography is the absolutely massive collection of facts and documents which Bix weaves into his analysis. As a result, this book helps the reader understand not only Hirohito, but also the workings of the military, Japanese politics, culture, and diplomacy. On the whole, Bix's analysis remains strong throughout, and he takes a huge step forward in crafting a case for Hirohito's war responsibility. At times, he does seem to overstate his case in portraying Hirohito's willfully aggressive tendencies. The book, while extremely well-written, does not have quite the quality of prose found in the most renouned histories. Despite these flaws, the most important reason for reading this book is Bix's own argument that investigating Hirohito's war responsibility represents a necessary prerequisite for Japanese acceptance of their nation's aggressive acts. This book furthermore highlights the disturbing role which the US played in shielding Hirohito from this responsibility previously, supporting a non-democratic individual as a bastion against Communism, a behavior which would become increasingly common during the Cold War.

Rating:
Summary: Shredding the curtain of lies
Review: Accepted wisdom says that from his accession in 1926 until the end of World War II, Emperor Hirohito of Japan was a European-style constitutional monarch, with some influence but no real power over his nation's destiny. He had no role in planning or waging the war, and knew nothing about war crimes and outrages like the Rape of Nanking or the Bataan Death March. It was the personal intervention of the peace-loving Emperor, the story goes, who realized the war was lost, that finally forced the militarists to surrender. After the war, the US-imposed Japanese constitution marked a complete break with tradition, and the beginning of a new political and social structure for the Japanese nation.

Herbert Bix accepts none of this conventional wisdom. Working from a wealth of Japanese and American sources, including many government documents from both nations' archives, Bix argues that the standard history is a tissue of lies. Indeed, Hirohito seemed to have lived his whole life surrounded, masked, and protected by lies -- first by his own government, and later reinforced by the Americans, who needed him and his nation as allies (not always willing) in the Cold War struggle against the Soviet Union.

Instead of a conventional biography, 'Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan' is a sweeping piece of political history. Bix argues convincingly that from the beginning, Hirohito had tremendous influence on the direction of Japanese government policy. His ministers consulted him, and heeded his advice. For example, he favored expansion of the war in China in the 1930s, and although he sometimes issued orders limiting the army's activities there, refused to punish officers who exceeded or ignored his orders -- provided their disobedience yielded positive results.

Bix sustains a tremendous volume of detail throughout his volume -- more than can (or should) be covered in a brief review. I encourage you to read the book yourself. It more than repays the effort.

The relationship between the US and Japan is one of the central pillars of American foreign policy in the post-war era. Now, with the end of the Cold War, there are signs the Japanese people are less and less willing to remain an American satrapy -- for all intents and purposes still an occupied country -- any longer. Herbert Bix's excellent book not only illuminates vital issues surrounding the Second World War, but also is tremendously useful for helping us understand the geopolitical world of today.

Rating:
Summary: THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES: MYTH, MAYHEM AND MURDER
Review: Slobodan Milosevic, the "Butcher of Belgrade," is responsible for the mass, genocidal murders committed in the name of "ethnic cleansing" by Serbian army thugs under his control in Bosnia and Kosovo. Arrainged yesterday in The Hague, Milosevic is the first head of state indicted before an international court for crimes committted while he was in office. Horrific as these crimes are, they pale in comparison to the crimes against humanity committed a half century earlier by the Emperor of Japan.

Why wasn't Hirohito tried for the crimes committed in his name (often from his direct orders and always sanctioned by him) by the Japanese military from 1931 to 1945? Hundreds of thousands of non-combantants and prisoners of war, including women, children and the elderly, were slaughtered, raped, beaten and displaced in China, southeast asia and the pacific.

It is a stain on the national honor of the United States that Hirohito was not indicted, tried, convicted and executed for committing crimes against humanity. Herbert Bix's HIROHITO offers a persuasive explanation of why the victors tipped the scales of justice in the emperor's favor.

HIROHITO is very much like its subject, interesting, important, superficially complicated, plodding but never scintillating, illuminating or profound. Both the man and the book are dressed in "The Emperor's New Clothes." There is less to either the emperor or to his biography than most readers will be willing to accept or admit.

Bix is at his best discussing the belief system upon which the modern Japan was built: "All Japanese subjects had the duty to give Hirohito their absolute obedience. In practice that meant 'to live for the great glory and dignity of the emperor, abandoning one's small ego, and thus expressing our true life as a people.' Here, in essence, was that peculiar amalgamation of Shinto, Buddhist...[and]Confusian...ideals, known as kodo--'the imperial way,' that powered Japanese aggression, and was used by army leaders to browbeat critics and by right-wing thugs to justify their terrorist actions."

HIROHITO starts slowly, laboriously recounting the future emperor's childhood, adolescence and young adulthood focusing on his education and apprenticeship for the throne. These chapters are distant, impersonal and fail to closely examine extremely suggestive clues to Hirohito's forming personality and character. How can a biographer provide such scant insight into the interior life of a subject born the same year Freud published his INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS?

HIROHITO becomes more interesting once Hirohito ascends the throne (about 200 pages into the story). Short of stature with a high-pitched voice, stoop shouldered and bespectacled, an uncharismatic self-professed "living diety" with limited intellectual capacity but unlimited power, Hirohito was a wimp with a Caesar complex, a brain-washed true believer who symbolized Japan to his brain-washed followers.

Hirohito's grandfather, the Emperor Meiji, coined the word "shinmin" in 1890 that denotes the proper relationship of emperor to subjects: "loyal-officials-directly-subordinated-to-the-emperor, and people-who-obediently-comply-with-their-orders." This would be an interesting concept to introduce in Brooklyn.

Bix saves his best for last. A spark of passion infuses the second half of this scholarly tome. Once the body count begins to climb, so does the author's zeal to understand and explain how such terrible mistakes could be made.

Bix concludes that the Tokyo War Crimes Trials failed to make most Japanese reflect on the meaning and mistakes of the war. "Many Japanese, after all, had been complicit with [Hirohito] in waging war, and the nation as a whole came to feel that because the emperor had not been held responsible, neither should they."

That lack of introspection in 1945 evolved into blissful ignorance on both sides of the pacific by 2001. The New York Times reported that 95% of all Americans were aware of the movie "Pearl Harbor" the week it was released in theaters but only 44% of American knew where Pearl Harbor is located or what occurred there in 1941.

Seventeen-year-old Akira Yamaoka was asked about Pearl Harbor while he was waiting in line to see "Pearl Harbor" in Tokyo last month. "It was a surprise attack," he responded, "Americans were breaking our codes. That's all I know."

Perhaps if Hirohito had been tried for war crimes in 1946, Japanese, Americans and their brethern around the world would have heard the kid from the fable say, "Look, the emperor's not wearing any clothes. He's naked." Akira Yamaoka would know more about Pearl Harbor and we would all be more outraged that Milosovic is the first head-of-state criminal coming before the bar of justice. Is the guillotine still in use in The Hague? I hope so.

Rating:
Summary: Well-researched and deserves reading
Review: When I started this book, which has just won the National Book Critics' award for best biography, I thought it was heavy and would be slow going. But once the book gets to about 1931 it becomes absorbing reading, and continues so all thru the war. I know nothing about the author, except what the blurb on the jacket says, and tho he is US-born, he seems much more at home with Japanese history than with American! Some of his comments on American history seem simplistic and un-nuanced. He says, e.g., that at the time of the Panay Incident (Dec. 1937) FDR was in his third term! But his research in Japanese materials seems awesome. Of course he has a thesis: Hirohita was a major war criminal but was protected by the Japanese and by the Americans who were to deal with postwar Japan. I think he proves his thesis, but you should read the book for yourself and decide that for yourself. The book is well worth your time if you are interested in events in the Orient and the situation in Japan.