Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan

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Summary: A "secret" deal between Hirohito and General MacArhur
Review: In eyes or minds of most Japanese liberals and lefts, what the author Herbert Bix revealed in this book has "virtually" nothing new. "Hirohito" was no doubt the #1 war criminal responsible for the deaths of many millions. As the author pointed out, the major reason why "Hirohito" escaped from the "war criminal" trials and execution was that General MacArthur (and the American government that supported his Japanese occupation policy) was quite keen to use 'Hirohito" (his spiritual "authority", and not his real political"power") as a tool to suppress most effectively the turmoils in the post-war Japan which otherwise would have been caused by both ultra-rights /millitary heads (against American occupation) and lefts (socialists and communists) against the Japanese establishment.

Like many Japanese lefts, both my late father, who died at 83 in a few months after the "Hirohito"'s death in 1989, and myself long believed that both the "Emperor" (Hirohito) and the "Emperor System" (whether it is merely a "symbol"/"puppet" or not) should have been eliminated from Japan right after the end of WWII to establish the true democracy in Japan. Unfortunately our voice, which was considered only as a "tiny" fraction of Japanese people, has been totally ignored by the ruling conservative parties and governments in Japan for more than 55 years.

Since a Japanese translation of this English book would never be allowed to be publihsed in Japan (or none of the major Japanese publishers would dare to take such a publication risk) for the coming decade(s), I have no intention to translate it for Japanese readers, although this book is no doubt worth reading for most of open-minded (or even closed-minded) Japanese. Instead, I am planning to write/publish my own Japanese book entitled "Showa Emperor (Hirohito) and American Caesar (MacArthur): making a fatal secret deal in post-war Japan", shortly after I shall retire from science in 2007 at 65.

I am a Japanese citizen (born during WWII) working in Melbourne as a molecular oncologist who left Japan in 1973 to work in US, West Germany and Australia for a political reason, shortly after I received my Ph. D.. I firmly believe that the "Emperor System" is a highly malignant "tumor" creeping in Japanese society to be entirely eliminated as soon as possible in the coming 21st century. Otherwise he (or she) in this royal family could make "another" secret deal with a ruling political power(s) for their own survival somedays in the future. I am not against either "Hirohito", his sons or grandsons, personally, but strongly against this so-called "royal" (non-democratically elected) system that created him or his potential "treacherous" descents. Our history of more than two thousand years is telling us the real danger ahead.

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Summary: Can Japan face their sin in the 21st century?
Review: To highly educated Japanese post-war intelectuals, the facts in this book would probably sound familiar; the Japanese emperor's stories have been underground knowledge, as if the Rothschilds for Europeans. Up to the recent age, however, most Japanese citizens have been ignoring, or carefully shielded from accurate information on the specific well-known family, and on the structures how their descendants and relatives still remain powerful over contemporaries in Japan. When I think about the mentality of the Japanese media (including major newspapers), which still change their casual language into super-polite language when they report the emperor family, I always feel the air of fascism.

Here, I don't want to criticize the U.S. militarism that took great advantage of post-war Japan's shadow Cabinet since I am not as intelligent as Japanese right-wing reviewers who suck the emperor's privacy. I don't even expect the readers care. But, all I want to say is that, if the Japanese have some will to gain their authentic identity in the international community, as humans with coherent speech, they first need to recognize their own history that is viewed from multiple perspectives through the world. I know Japan is an island country, and the nature has set them with a narrow view (as narrow as little Shintaro Ishihara's frontal lobe) from the beginning. But, at some point, we all have to open our minds. I also notice the brainwashing which is currently going in the Japanese general press, justifying Japan's invasion and expansionism in the past, and which is silently raising militarism among no-future young Japanese people. Fortunately, they are not the majority yet. I don't want to see Japan's refutation. But, I want to see conscientious action.

As a Japanese, I recommend this book, especially to Japanese readers. That's because I truly care about Japan. Read it, and find something new before you close it.

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Summary: Can Japan face their sin in the 21st century?
Review: To highly educated Japanese post-war intelectuals, the facts in this book would probably sound familiar; the Japanese emperor's stories have been underground knowledge, as if the Rothschields for Europeans. Up to the recent age, however, most cosmopolitans have been ignoring, or carefully schielded from accurate information on the specific well-known family, and on the structures how their descendants and relatives still remain powerful over contemporaries in the world. When I think about the mentality of the international media (including major newspapers or broadcasting stations), which still continue to superimpose a criminal image onto Japan when they report anything about the nation, I always feel the air of white fascism.

Here, I don't want to criticize the U.S. militarism that took great advantage of post-war Japan's shadow Cabinet since I am not as intelligent as American right-wing reviewers. I don't even expect the readers care. But, all I want to say is that, if the Japanese have some will to gain their authentic identity in the international community, as humans with coherent speech, they first need to recognize their own history that is viewed from multiple perspectives through the world. I know Japan is an island country, and the nature has set them with a narrow view from the beginning. But, at some point, we all have to open our minds. I also notice the brainwashing which is currently going in the western nations, demonizing Japan's role in the world. Fortunately, they are not the majority yet. I don't want to see America's refutation. What I want to see is a conscientious action: the golden rule.

As a Japanese, I recommend this book, especially to Japanese readers. Read it, and find something new before you close it.

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Summary: Unseating the Divine.
Review: This very detailed book needs your determined concentration. It is indeed a meticulously researched account of the life of Hirohito. Bix writes convincingly of the successful attempts, by Americans as well as by Japanese, to ensure Hirohito avoided a trial for war crimes and remained an anti-communist symbol of national unity. He also brings forward a mass of material to illustrate that the emperor was intimately involved in Japan's military policy in the 1930s and early 1940s. Although the general reader is hardly in a position to check first hand all Bix's primary source claims, it is the small details which stick in your mind: the special naval uniform Hirohito wore as Japan attacked the US navy in December 1941 and the private grief he expressed when Tojo was hanged in 1948. Bix has made it impossible for anyone seriously now to regard the emperor as a mere cypher or a victim of war Cabinet decisions. He needed a debunk in the English language and he has gotten precisely that.

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Summary: Japan should know coverup and deceit never pay
Review: Herbert Bix's "Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan" is a meticulously detailed account of the emperor's culpability for aggression and his role in the execution of Japan's war efforts. Hirohito is plainly exposed to be not only head of state but wartime Japan's substantive commander in chief. He reigned and ruled at the same time, with General Tojo serving as his henchman, during the war. Most cogent is Bix's articulation of the point that Japan's continuing failure to own up its guilt stems from the failure to account for Hirohito's personal responsibility. Since he was treated free of guilt, today's Japan finds it difficult to be honest about its sordid past without contradicting itself about the emperor's and his wartime Japan's atrocities. As if to prove the point, Japan again is tinkering with some textbook descriptions of her deeds in the war right now, September 2000. The book is a must reading for those who want to see Japan as being more than a great economic power.

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Summary: Ruthless Dictator or penetant marine zoololist
Review: Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan is a well-researched, historical account of the Japanese emperor during World War II, Hirohito.

The author postulates that far from being an ineffective leader dominated by his military advisors and driven to war against his better judgment; he was in fact a driver behind the war and agreed in pursuing the Divine Japanese spirit to the end, even when countless hundreds of thousands of his own citizens, civilian and military were dying unnecessarily.

I highly recommend this to any one interested in the background to modern Japan or Japanese history.

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Summary: hopefully give some thoughts to the Japanese
Review: As mentioned in the book, the Japanese has long been downplaying the role of the wartime Emporor Hirohito throughout the past half century. Without accepting Hirohito's responsibility in the second world war, the Japanese will never accept thier war time quilt as a country either.

As a chinese, I would highly recommend the Japanese to read this book. The reason is that the book doesn't really review much surprising secrets of the war time quilt of Hirohito/Japan, so it would not be a very rewarding reading for readers of the western world with abundant information about the war. But for the Japanese, as every one knows, they like to "alter" their history in a way that they don't even admit the happening of the Nanjing Massacre incident happened in China during the WWII, by reading this book, which is quite an objective piece of work, it is hoped that the Japanese can begin to accept the true history, not thier conjured-up version.

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Summary: a brief comments on Marvin weatherly's review
Review: For the book itself I have only a few lines to say for now - contrary to what the book cover says, most of the Bix' arguments based on "facts" are not entirely new and rather similar, though not identical, to what the left in Japan had argued long time ago. Maybe this is why Bix was able to rely on so many "facts" i.e., previous works by his Japanese counterparts who are native thus have better access to the original sources.

Regarding marvin's review, I cannot help pointing out an outright misperception (or a simply lie for his argument's sake).

"Japanese in many quarters, including the schools, still maintain the Rape-of-Nanking is but a vicious lie by those who are jealous of Japan."

As a onetime English teacher at a high school in the country, I can attest to the contrary. The fact is that all mainstream textbooks and teaching instructions there obligates teachers to devote a significant amount of time to teaching the wartime atrocities and their devastating consequences, including Nanking. I doubt if marvin or other critics who often make a similar (false) claim have any clue what they are talking about. I find it rather troublesome that they use such an unfounded claim to generalize about a certain people (Japanese in this case) with no careful assessment of the inherent diversity of their views and opinions.

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Summary: Detailed but a little dry
Review: Bix's biography of Emperor Hirohito starts off a little slow. The first third of the book plods slowly through his childhood with great detail, yet rarely giving a glimpse of the "real" Hirohito. I do not fault Bix for the later - Hirohito was from birth isolated from the world, to both his detriment and ours. Once reaching Hirohito's ascent to the throne, the book picks up rapidly, and by the time the work reaches the WWII era, I was wishing it would go slower. While the immediate post-war period was covered in great detail, I was hoping for a bit more about information about his role in influencing Japanese culture from 1960-1989, but I found this section of the book somewhat lacking.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, particularly the parts covering the war era (1930-1945). Bix leaves little doubt as to Hirohito's importance in Japan's unfortunate actions, and places one more dagger into the myth that Hirohito was nothing more than a figurehead.

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Summary: Lots of Japan, Not Much Personal Detail about Hirohito
Review: The title of this book says it all. Just be aware that personal details of Hirohito's life are not what this book is about. It is about the public Hirohito and the "Making of Modern Japan". I found that a bit of a disappointment, but apparently the Japanese protect the private life of their titular rulers--even now.

What makes this book significant is that it details Hirohito's total involvement with decisions made in his name during the Second World War. The fiction that he, well, was "just the emperor and didn't make policy" is exposed for a lie.

Why wasn't Hirohito tried as a war criminal? Well, MacArthur thought he was worth more alive than dead. Many of the military men who served him and carried out his orders, however, either committed suicide or were tried as war criminals. History just isn't fair, is it?

This book was an eye opener for me as I do not know much about Japanese history (as opposed to Europe or the US). It made me want to know more. It is not an easy read, but go fer it!