Hirohito – The War Years

By Paul Manning

Book Review

By Richard E. Noble

“He plotted with his advisors the invasions of Manchuria and China, and the attack on Pearl Harbor, which thrust the United States into the Pacific war. He listened to his army and navy leaders, and once the details had been worked out, approved their recommendations for aggression and war.
“The image of the late Emperor as a gentle lover of peace who may have opposed these aggressions but did not know how to or have the power to stop them goes against recorded history.
“General MacArthur helped along this Japanese campaign of disinformation when he recommended and promoted the policy that Hirohito continue to reign as a constitutional monarch and not be tried as a war criminal. MacArthur, against the popular wishes of Australia, Britain and many in the U.S. Congress, stated he needed Hirohito’s continued presence on the Throne to stabilize Japan and establish the nation as an American ally against Soviet communism.”

This book is truly shocking. That Hirohito, the Japanese counterpart to Germany’s Adolf Hitler, would be coddled and pampered and subsidized by American taxpayers to the tune of millions and even billions of dollars is a sad joke on America and its World War II veterans.

The author of this book takes on many controversies. The attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese surrender, and the justification of the use of the atomic bombs are minor subplots. The big story is Hirohito and how he murdered the people of his nation and millions of opponents in an attempt to dominate the world but yet won fame, notoriety and fortune for himself and the rich Japanese families (Zaibatsu) who backed him. Their descendents are still prospering today. It is truly and outrage.

The author does a very thorough job in laying out the historic facts and details of this disgrace in the name of American diplomacy and the cold war strategy.

One can only imagine what an outcry would have erupted if Adolf Hitler had lived and received a similar treatment.

Hirohito was what Hitler was and more. His exploits against China are fit for any Holocaust movie.

Pearl Harbor, Nanking, Chekiang, the Bataan death march, the buildings and laboratories of the 731-Corps near Harbin in Manchuria, General Shiro Ishii, if there is any man who should have received an automatic execution after the surrender of Japan, Hirohito is the number one candidate. Tojo, no Good Samaritan himself, took the fall for Hirohito to secure his family.

Why would we coddle Hirohito and Imperialist Japan? Why would we invest millions in the reconstruction of Nazi Germany? Why would we allow war mongering, murdering imperialist, capitalists, and business titans from Germany and Japan (Japanese Zaibatsu and German industrialists like Krupp) to go free and resume business as usual? If we weren’t fighting German Nazism and we weren’t fighting Japanese imperialism who and what were we fighting?

I think you can find that answer by looking at our current political situation. It is becoming rather obvious.