Hirohito: Emperor of Japan
Hirohito was the 124th emperor of Japan. He was born on April 29, 1901 at Aoynama Palace in Tokyo, to Crown Prince Yoshihito and Empress Sadako. His grandfather was the Meiji emperor, Mutsuhito, Japans first modern emperor. (Meiji meaning Enlightened Ruler) Seventy days after his birth he was removed from his parents and entrusted to foster parents, a Vice Admiral of the Imperial Navy. When he died, Hirohito was returned to Akasaka Palace, which was a miniature version of the Palace at Versailles. Hirohito was an isolated child and suffered from a somewhat curved spine and a shuffle. He was not very big or strong but he was fairly shied, clumsy, and grave. At the age of eight he was sent to the Peers School where he was enrolled into a class of twelve boys. The head of the school was General Nogi Maresuke. This was the man who captured Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War. Hirohito worshipped Nogi and Nogi took a particular interest in him. He tried to instill in the young boy the virtues of stoicism, hard work, and devotion to the nation. (Encyclopedia of World Biography, NP) When Emperor Mutsuhito died, General Nogi and his wife committed ritual suicide leaving Hirohito without a mentor. His education was continued by Admi
In July of 1937, hostilities between China and Japan began to erupt. Hirohito's advisors advised him to not get too involved in the decisions about the war so, he followed their advice and gave consent to his government to implement whatever policies they thought fit. There is evidence to show that Hirohito felt uneasy about the developments of World War Two, and did not favor an alliance with NAZI Germany or Fascist Italy. Finally on September 6, 1941 the final decision to go to war with the United States was made. Hirohito had many concerns about defeat one of which he referred to with a comment to his Chief of Staff Sugiyama Hajime when he made the statement that the initial operations in the Philippines and Malaya would only take three months Hirohito said: In late October of 1987, Hirohito's health was getting worse, The Cold War was ending, and so was his life. On September 18, 1987 the then eighty six year old man was diagnosed with a type of intestinal disease. Shortly thereafter he was hospitalized for surgery becoming the first emperor to undergo such a procedure. The operation went well and was an overall success, but a year later September 19, 1988 he was very ill. Finally his son Crown Prince Akihito was informed that his father had cancer, while the press was informed of no such thing. Still the nation knew their beloved Hirohito was sick so it went into a relative state of grieving. They followed his health very closely from the media and even sent him get-well cards distributed by the government. "Hirohito's reticence made it difficult to determine whether he was guilty of complicity in, or mere compliance with, the expansionism that characterized Japan during his first two decades as Emperor. Ultimately 2.3 million Japanese soldiers and 800,000 civilians died in World War II. But most of the evidence suggests that Hirohito was at heart a peace-loving man. At a Cabinet meeting in 1941, when his ministers agitated for the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Emperor surprised them all by suddenly reciting a poem composed by his grandfather, the Emperor Meiji: 'In a world/ Where all the seas/ Are brethren/ Why then do wind and wave/ So stridently clash?' With that, he fell silent."(Time, p30) Despite this sad effort at stopping the entry to the war on December 1 his advisors unanimously recommended war and the emperor nodded his approval. When President Roosevelt pleaded for peace from Hirohito, he ignored the message. During the war Hirohito refused to leave his palace because he wished to endure the hardships with his people. In late June he decided to seek relative peace in the pacific, and the rest of the war. He wanted to send his former premier Konoye Fumimaro to Moscow to negotiate peace with the Americans. The soviets ignored Hirohito's request and the war continued. The Soviets had been planning to enter the pacific theater on the side of the allies, which is why they ignored Hirohito's request. Despite all his concerns when he was asked if they should continue with their offensive his response was confined to a poem his g
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2069
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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