Rating: 
Summary: A sound explanation of an apparent historical absurdity
Review: Absent analysis, it is incredible that Emperor Hirohito kept his throne after World War II ended. As the leader of a nation whose troops killed prisoners of war, raped and murdered civilians, used poison gas and performed biological experiments on prisoners, he was the one on whom ultimate blame could be placed. Furthermore, the most powerful of the victor nations was drawn into the Pacific war by a sneak attack that generated a tremendous national hatred for the Japanese. The reason that has consistently been put forward for his survival as a monarch is that he was a mere figurehead, used by a militaristic faction to bring a compliant population into conformance with their expansionist designs.
That position was of course a fiction convenient for both the victors and defeated in the war. Although the documentation for some of the actual events is forever lost, it is clear that Hirohito was very active in the decision making process that led to and continued the war. The command structure of the Japanese government from the ascension of Hirohito until the end of the war was very complex, a point examined in great detail in this book. Granted that Hirohito was put forward as a god-emperor to the people of Japan, his position was less secure than that term would suggest. There were many factions in the military that chose their own paths rather than following the directives of the leadership, including those of the emperor.
Bix places this all in perspective, giving an accurate, unbiased account of the roles all factions played as well as the responsibility that Hirohito had for the start, conduct and end of the war. He was no mere figurehead, but was well-briefed on the circumstances, and had he chosen to do so, could have issued indirect imperial directives that would have altered the course of events. This is the most interesting part of the book, in that trying to examine how the decisions to go to war were made is like trying to see clearly through a fogged piece of broken glass.
One small action in the course of the war encapsulates much of his style and approach. When the Doolittle flyers performed their one-way bombing mission of Japan, many were captured. The military decided to execute them as terrorists, but Hirohito intervened to save the lives of some of them, although they all did the same thing. These were also acts that pilots operating in his name had performed many times in China. Lacking the strength to stop all the executions but mindful enough not to let them all be killed, he chose an untenable middle ground that gives an appearance of uncertainty. Although it will probably never be known for certain, the explanation put forward by Bix is probably the correct one. Hirohito viewed himself as a benevolent ruler and showing clemency to those who killed his people would be the highest act of a human god.
His survival as leader after the war was largely due to the growing threat of the Soviet Union and the need of the United States for reliable allies that would assist in preventing the spread of the communist style of totalitarianism. The American leadership showed itself to be in possession of the appropriate level of cynical opportunism when they began developing plans to halt the Soviet advance. German generals were used to create defense strategies in Europe, German rocket scientists were put to good use in building powerful rockets and Hirohito was kept on as emperor. That part was not surprising and probably essential. What was unusual is that the Japanese people themselves chose to absolve him of a guilt that they all knew he had. This is the second most interesting part of the book and one that the author tries hard to explain, but leaves uncertain through no fault of his own. It is hard to fathom how someone who led a nation to such utter defeat would not be removed by actions of the governed. In any case, the explanation of the mood of the Japanese people after the war is a fascinating study of mass psychology.
In the final analysis, his survival was due to the actions of one man, General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur was a man who thought nothing of violating the orders of his superiors, both in fact and in spirit. This independence was both his greatest strength and most powerful weakness, but in this case it led to the survival of Hirohito. As is detailed so well in this book, it was occupation commander MacArthur who decided that this particular emperor would remain. At that point in time, an abdication with a regency in favor of the untainted crown prince would have been palatable to all and not appreciably changed the ability to oppose communism. The relationship between the general and the emperor was one of mutual assistance, where both used each other to satisfy their perceived needs. MacArthur was a conservative who felt little affinity for liberalism and was comfortable with anyone who acknowledged his superiority. This is captured so very well in that famous photograph of the general at ease with no tie and his hands on his hips whereas the emperor is in formal dress. There is no doubt which person is really in charge.
Hirohito was the very epitome of the term survivor, a man who survived that which could not be survived. As culpable as any as Japan embarked on a brutal, aggressive war of conquest, this explanation of his thoughts, moods and actions helps us all understand how this simple man managed to do what seems to be impossible. It should be read by all who wish to understand the culture of this homogenous, yet diverse nation.
Rating: 
Summary: Sheds light on the current political paralysis in Tokyo
Review: Bix's work is long, dense and full of historical references. It is definitely not a casual read. I am not a student of Japanese History, but after reading Bix's tome, I can better appreciate the decade long paralysis in Japan's Government concerning the economy. The political system is more byzantine and ineffective than I ever imagined and it's historical roots can be traced to this era.
Rating: 
Summary: Of questionable value.
Review: The central hypothesis offered by Bix relies on the tenuous application of modern political thought to a country mired in over 1,000 years of xenophobic isolation. There is no doubt that Showa was a deeply complex man who often was in conflict with those around him, but this indictment reads more like a piece of historical revisionist trash best left to line birdcages, cat litter pans and wrapping for fish.This absurdity does little to elucidate the Japanese emperor's culpability during the war years, and is as serious a piece of scholarly work as the nearest supermarket tabloid. Don't waste your time with this tripe.
Rating: 
Summary: Less than meets the eye
Review: Professor Bix has obviously done a great amount of research for this book, and their is no denying that it is one of the most comprehensive works about the Showa Emperor to come out in the West. However, his extensive documentation never quite seems to prove his case that Hirohito was a ruthless and determined warlord, and it is further flawed by several factual errors. To be sure, most of those errors are about people and events outside of Japan. For example, Bix talks about Crown Prince Hirohito's visit in 1921 to the "independent" Vatican. In fact, Vatican City did not gain independence until the signing of the Lateran Accords with the Kingdom of Italy in 1929. Leaving this and several other such errors aside, the main problem is that Bix seems determined to caricature the Emperor in spite of whatever the Emperor says or does. When Crown Prince Hirohito writes to his advisers of his enthusiasm for the League of Nations, Bix assures us that this is merely youthful enthusiasm and should not be taken too seriously. Some might argue that what the then Crown Prince wrote in a not to be published letter ought to be given at least a little credence. Then there is the entire run up to war in 1941. Bix routinely tells us how the Emperor resisted the expansionists in the military who argued for going to war against Britain and the United States. Then goes on to say how the Emperor was really siding with them the whole time. The problem is not that Bix's research is wrong or bad, it is that he is determined to take a very nuanced picture of a complicated man and turn it into a black & white caricature. Ignoring Bix's (repeatedly) stated opinions of the Emperor's actions, the picture emerges of an Emperor who vacilated in his role. Sometimes acting, sometimes not. In this light, the Emperor emerges as a flawed man who worked hard, knew his duties and yet who, because of irresolution and the ambiguous nature of the monarchy and the Meiji Constitution, failed to take a consistent stand for or against war. As a result, the Emperor was warning his military against war, even as he made it possible. Given the context in which the Emperor reigned, this seems a fairer assesment of his role than Professor Bix's depiction of an agressive warrior. As to the Emperor's later post-World War II role and his "suppression of the Japanesse people's sense of empowerment," this is mostly hogwash and a reflection of the professor's own political predilictions. Monarchy is no more incompatible with democracy in Japan than it is in Canada, Australia,Norway, Sweden, Monaco, Britain or Spain. To hang the peculiar state of Japan's current political institutions around Hirohito's neck is to heap a lot of 1,000 years of history on one man. Did the United States - specifically MacArthur - save the Emperor for its own reasons? Of course. The Soviet Union and Mao were close by. The spectacle of Germany's Weimar Republic, of a nation suddenly cut culturally adrift by the loss of its own monarchy after a major war, was recent history. Its lessons of a society made ripe for totalitarianism by the loss of established institutions however flawed, were not lost on an American government increasingly faced with the prospect of Cold War. Unfortunately, Professor Bix makes his moral judgment of the Emperor in curious isolation from the Emperor's time and place. This does not mitigate the Emperor's failings, but it does make for a more complicated historical judgment than the professor suggests. Best advice about this book: Get it, read it for the undeniably rich trove of data, facts and narrative drama that it offers, but put Professor Bix's shrill sermonizing on the Emperor and the evils of monarchy to one side.
Rating:
Summary: A fine in-depth coverage
Review: Hirohito's biography breaks new ground in revealing the truth behind the emperor's contentions of innocence after World War II, revealing that he aligned himself with nationalist movements, held great powers, and played a key role in military operations. The man who claimed he was a pacifist who'd been a military puppet is revealed in his entirety in a startling new light in a fine in-depth coverage highly recommended for any student of modern Japanese history and culture.
Rating:
Summary: yes, but...
Review: Bix's book is good, and I recommend you get yourself a copy to read. However, I still think that the defining work is David Bergamini's "JAPAN'S IMPERIAL CONSPIRACY", published back in 1971 (and now out of print) which at over 1200+ pages goes into deeper detail and is much more comprehensive in providing background cultural and historical information most Westerners simply do not have about Japan. Read about Prince Saionji, Baron Dan, the Three Crows, the Five Lights,... yea, never heard of them before? Did you know Emperor Hirohito already had a son (by artificial insemination with another woman) just in case the Empress kept having more daughters? This was before Akihito was born. Once Akihito arrived, the other son, though well cared for financially and otherwise, was made to fade away and not become an embarressment to the Throne. Hirohito had rejected direct relations with Concubines, so as to keep Japan acceptable to Western Morals in His effort to make Japan the Equal of any Western Nation. Read the book(s). You will be unable to stop except for sleep! My wife kept turning off the light, removing my glasses, bookmarking the page I was on, and putting a blanket over me after I had fallen asleep trying to stay up reading each of these books. Intellectually stimulating!
Rating:
Summary: Getting Angry
Review: Herbert Bix has done a great service in his book, not least of all to the American people. Not only is Emperor Hirohito convincingly unmasked as the activist war leader he was, but, even more importantly for Americans, we learn that the U.S. government and its representatives, most especially General Douglas MacArthur, were determined to cover up Hirohito's wartime role in pursuit of their version of American "national interest." Just how successful the U.S.-inspired coverup was, is attested to by the fact that it has taken more than half a century for Hirohito's wartime role to be revealed. Needless to say, the Japanese side, most especially the Japanese government and the Imperial Household Agency, also bear responsibility for preventing the truth from coming out. Yet Western scholars of Japan from Edwin Reishauer onwards, also contributed to the myth of Hirohito's innocence. Even during the Asia-Pacific War (World War II) Reishauer, for example, was writing memos statijng his conviction that America could use Hirohito for its own purposes after the war. Unlike Hitler, Hirohito, as a "living god," was wise enough to shield his decision-making power from the public eye. Bix's well-documented book allows us to pierce the veil of secrecy, a veil that has been maintained by BOTH the Japanese and American governments for all too long. If the Japanese people need to come to grips with the way in which they have been purposely deceived by their government in the postwar years, then so do the Americans. If the citizens of any democracy allow either their political or academic leaders to lie to them, then those democracies cannot but have a bleak future. We need only look at the Vietnam war debacle to realize how easy it is for those in power to believe that they can fool "all of the people all of the time." Those who believe that the truth is a formidable weapon in the arsenal of a free people are indebted to Herbert Bix and his work.
Rating:
Summary: An important book that lets us look at fundamental questions
Review: The Showa Dictatorship was responsbile for the deaths of millions of people. It treated prisoners of wars with tortures as foul as any in Dachau or Koloyma. It was a pioneer in forced prostitution and mass rape. Thousands of Chinese prisoners alone were slaughtered in experiments to create one of the world's most advanced biological weapons. Yet the commerical, political and intellectual elites were given the equivalent of a slap on the wrist and reintegrated into the new Japanese democracy. And no one benefited more from this peculiar brand of Conservative Mercy that the son of heaven, the divine emperor Hirohito. Herbert Bix provides an invaluable account of the man and his regime. Since the end of the war the official story from the palace was that Hirohito was nothing but a constitutional monarch who had no choice but to ratify the increasingly insane and fanatical measures of his militaristic ministers. This was the view propogated by General Douglas MacArthur and by biographers such as Nicholas Mosley and Stephen Large. After reading this book such views will no longer be tenable. Now it is important to point out that Hirohito was not like Hitler or Mussolini. Whereas those two had an insane lust for power, Hirohito was self-effacing in the extreme. Slightly spastic, very short and awkwardly dressed, had Hirohito not been a prince he might have made a compotent biology instructor at a second rate community college. Hirohito was not an absolute dictator. But he was the most powerful player in a polyocracy involving the army, fascist militarists, business elites, aristocrats and parliamentary politicians. What does Bix specifically allege? Bix points out that Hirohito's education was consistently authoritarian and undemocratic. None of his advisors and politicians were democrats, and the "Taisho democracy," consisted of two identical pro-business parties that vied with each other in pro-imperial fervor and suppressed all republican and leftist sentiment. Clearly something was rotten with Japanese society when thousands of harmless Koreans were lynched after the great Tokyo earthquake in the mid-twenties. Hirohito was not in the vanguard for aggression and war (his brother were even worse), but he approved every step from the Mukden incident to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Moreover he showed no outrage, subversion and aggression committed in his name. His coronation reinforced his autocratic power and the myth of his divinity. Almost certainly aware of the rape of Nanking, but doing nothing to stop it, Hirohito promoted the militarists and fascists who accelerated the pace towards dictatorship and war. Whereas Mosley says Hirohito never forgave General Tojo for deceiving him about military defeats, Bix provides a good case that Tojo was in fact Hirohito's favorite prime minister. He certainly took the inititative in making his prime minister, when both the outgoing prime minister and Tojo himself recommended a more moderate person in the crucial months before Pearl Harbor. Once the Pacific War was underway Hirohito constantly pushed not for peace but for further offensives. Indeed he was culpably blind in failing to see that after Midway Japan was condemned to slow but certain defeat. Moreover Hirohito shared the responsibility for delaying Japan's surrender for half a year as he and others pursued chimerical hopes of winning a final decisive battle. Throughout the war the Japanese had been starved by their leaders in pursuit of victory, they had been ordered to committ mass suicide at Okinawa and Saipan and after the surrender the government proposed recruiting hundreds of women to serve as official state prostitutes for the American army. Yet after the defeat Hirohito and his circle blamed the Japanese people and their "selfishness" and "individualism," and not himself and his ministers for being completely out of their depth. Bix details how Hirohito, the prosecution and MacArthur occupying force helped fix the Tokyo War Crimes Trial so that he would not be implicated. Bix goes on to discuss his opposition to the most democratic and pacific aspects of the new Japanese goverment, while the media played up a false image of him as a progressive and constitutional monarch. Bix's book is not perfect. It is somewhat repetitive, and unlike Ian Kershaw's volume on Hitler, it cannot serve as a history of the protagonist's country. There are only brief discussions of the spread of emperor worship, and we have a much simpler portrait of Japanese public opinion than what we have about Germany. A person reading this book would not know why democracy was so limited and why there was so little resistance within Japan to its imperialism and aggression; nor would they know there was so little outrage at its crimes. But in clarifying the emperor's role Bix has moved us beyond apologetic accounts and moved forward to new issues. For we have to understand that the Showa Dictatorship was not just a cruel regime. It was an evil regime, fully worthy of sustained moral analysis as Hitler's and Stalin's and as much a symbol of poisoned modernity as those two. And when we see the joy of exterminating others in the mirror of alternative modernities, we cannot be sure that we are immune from the Showa's Dictatorship's temptations.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of Beef!!!!
Review: This is an excellent book, and shatters the U.S. Government's carefully crafted and guided thoughts about Emperor Hirohito from the day McArthur walked into Tokyo in 1945 through today. Yes, as many of had suspected, it was Hirohito that was calling the shots from behind the scenes and it was he who made the ultimate decision to take on the United States in December 1941 and it was he who delayed and delayed (until after the atomic bombs were droped) the acceptance of a surrender. I have already searched for this book on the various Japanese bookstore websites and cannot find it (either in English or Japanese). Knowing how the Japanese quietly and discretely discuss their emperor, and knowing how fanatical some of the right wing Japanese are, I don't think the book will ever be published in Japan. The book is a heafty 688 pages long (plus the footnote section), however, it was smooth reading and quite interesting. It is one of the most thoroughly researched books I have ever seen. I have to hand it author Bix, he had to do research in both English and Japanese and has done a really good job of it. I don't know how many of you are baby boomers and use to ask their fathers what happened during the Second World War? I am one, and the neighbor behind us was a B-29 pilot who was shot down over Tokyo Bay in February 1945, his few comments along with my own father's made the reading of this book absolutely fasinating. My only dissapointment with the book is its treatment on Japan's decision to go to war with America. Japan's reasoning went something like this, 'We (Japan) have colonies in Korea, Tiawan, and are fighting to expand our colonies in Northern China and Southeast Asia. America has given us an ultimatum stop expanding and fighting and if you don't, says America, it will cut off your (Japan's) oil and scrap metal and some other strategic minerals. America then went ahead and cut off Japan's oil etc. If Japan doesn't have the things America sells Japan then Japan will lose its colonies. Therefore, we (Japan) have to go to war with America so we don't lose our colonies.' Wow, that is crazy reasoning by Japan! Bix does somewhat cover Japan's decision to go to war with America. But, there has to be more than what he has given us in the Japanese decision process. What on earth possessed Japan, that already had two war fronts going (Northern China and Southeast Asia), to go to war with the U.S? Did the Japanese think sinking a few ships (at Pearl Harbor) would scare America into seeking peace? Did Hirohito and his militarists think America so racially inferior that a "romp" with America would be a "peice of cake" meaning they could easily win America in any battle? Did they think their allies, Germany and Italy, would come to their rescue? Weren't some "worst case senarios" thought out by the Japanese when they decided to take on America? And why did they do it knowing they may be risking not only their colonies, but a conquest of the motherland by Gaijins? Although Bix dealt with this subject, why did the Japanese military generally treat all their prisioners of war so badly? Was that an order from Tojo or Hirohito or a cultural thing? Anyway, the book is excellent and I wish it could be read by Japanese in Japanese. Its easy reading, interesting and the 688 pages go very quickly. It is very worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: A Highly Readable Biography of Emperor Hirohito
Review: I picked up this book in early September and here I am in the middle of November finally done with it. As a history teacher it is not easy to read a book of this size and length during the school year, if only this had come out during the summer. Hopefully it will take me less time to finish the new book on Ho Chi Minh. First off, kudos to the author for making the book highly readable. Also, the book does a remarkable job with the primary source. The author could not have had an easy time gaining access to and translating the number of Japanese primary sources he makes use of. I was surprised by the number of Japanese sources he uses and a bit shocked at the lack of english secondary sources. The book makes it loud and clear that Hirohito was not a passive monarch during WWII. The book makes it clear that while the military did many things in China on there own before WWII that Hirohito did nothing to stop it. The book makes it clear that Hirohito is was an active participant in the Japanese war machine between 1937-1945. The author makes a strong case for this, backs it up, and presents it to the reader in an easy and interesting narrative. I had a major problem with the way the book portrayed Harry S. Truman. I did not like the fact, that even though the author blames Hirohito for delaying the Japanese surrender setting the stage for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that he still has something negative to say about Truman. I believe after blaming Hirohito, the author felt it neccessary to add that Truman lacked "the patience and foresight" to hold off on the atomic bombings. I suggest anyone who wants a better look at the atomic bombings and Truman to look at Ferrell's "Truman and the Bomb." I also felt the book lacked the emotional punch that was in Iris Chang's the Rape of Nanking. Bix, goes into detail about Hirohito's knowledge of the atrocities that were committed by the Japanese to the Chinese, but he does not do as good a job as Chang does in her book. Also, the ending chapters in the book which cover the occupation of Japan and rebuilding of Japan after WWII pale in comparrison to "Embracing Defeat." While, Bix is more realistic and less an sympathetic toward the Japanese as the author of "Embracing Defeat" he did not do as good a job with the material. Any fan of Japanese history that has read "Embracing Defeat" will really not need to read the last 50 or so pages of the book. But I am being picky. This was a much needed book. Too often in the circle of Japanese history writers there is a tendancy to allow admiration for Japanese culture and the Japanese people to cloud judgement. Too often the crimes committed by the Japanese during WWII are overlooked and forgotten about. Bix has written an excellent biography of Hirohito. It is a biography that is not afraid to be critical of the Japanese, which so many writers seem to be. Bix makes it clear what Hirohito's role in WWII was. Yes, I do not think he made the correct assessment on Truman, and yes I do not think his chapters on the occupation are as good as some others, but do not let these little things stop you from reading this book. If you like Japanese and WWII history you will enjoy this book. This book is money and time well spent. In addition, anyone who liked this book should check out the historical novel "The Emperor's General" by James Webb. It is a historical novel of the relationship between MacArthur and Hirohito. It is a great novel...I highly recommend it!
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