Hirohito

This article deals with the Tennō Hirohito . For other namesake see Hirohito (disambiguation) .

Hirohito in coronation robe in 1928

Hirohito ( Japanese 裕仁 ; born April 29, 1901 in Tokyo ; † January 7, 1989 ibid) was according to the traditional line of succession of the 124th Tennō of Japan and the third of the modern period. He was the Japanese head of state from 1926 until his death in 1989. Since then he has been officially known in Japan as Shōwa-tennō ( 昭和 天皇 ). Outside of Japan, he continues to be referred to as Emperor Hirohito.

Hirohito, who was personally interested in marine biology, took over the reign as early as 1921 when his father was sick. At that time Japan was already a major sea power and had occupied several countries in East Asia. During his time as head of state, Japan expanded its aggression against other countries. Japan entered World War II with the attack on the American fleet in Pearl Harbor in December 1941 .

After the war, in 1945, Japan was occupied by the Americans. Consideration was given to indicting Hirohito for his co-responsibility for Japan's wars of aggression and human rights violations. The American military government under General Douglas MacArthur renounced this and left Hirohito on the imperial throne. However, the emperor's function was reduced to purely representative tasks.

In the coming decades, Hirohito had a strong presence in the Japanese public. He participated in the resumption of diplomatic relations. Japan rose to a leading economic power during this time. There was hardly any reappraisal of the Japanese war crimes and the role of Hirohito; however, since 1978 he has boycotted the Yasukuni Shrine , which also honors war criminals.

Hirohito had cancer surgery in 1987 and died of internal bleeding two years later. After his death, his son Akihito officially became the new emperor in November 1990.

Early life

Hirohito 1902

Hirohito was born in the Aoyama Palace in Tokyo as the first son of the then Crown Prince Yoshihito and the then Crown Princess Sadako . His childhood title was Prince Michi ( 迪 宮 , Michi no miya ). With the death of his grandfather, Emperor Meiji , and his father's accession to the throne on July 30, 1912, he became heir apparent. He was formally appointed crown prince on November 2, 1916.

He attended the Gakushuin noble school from 1908 to 1914 , after which a special institution for the Crown Prince (Tōgū-gogakumonsho) took over his further training from 1914 to 1921. In 1921, Prince Regent Hirohito toured the United Kingdom , France , Italy , the Netherlands and Belgium for six months ; thus he became the first Japanese crown prince to ever travel abroad. On November 29, 1921 he became regent of Japan on behalf of his sick father.

marriage

Family 1941

On January 26, 1924, he married his cousin Princess Nagako , who has been called Empress Kōjun since her death in 2000. She was the eldest daughter of Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi . Their marriage had seven children:

1. Princess Teru ( Teru no miya Shigeko , * December 6, 1925 - July 23, 1961), married on October 10, 1943 to Prince Morihiro (* May 6, 1916 - February 11, 1969), the eldest son of Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko and his wife, Princess Toshiko, the eighth daughter of Emperor Meiji. On October 14, 1947, she lost her status as a member of the imperial family.
2. Princess Hisa ( Hisa no miya Sachiko , born September 10, 1927, † March 8, 1928).
3. Princess Taka ( Taka no miya Kazuko , born September 30, 1929 - † May 26, 1989). She married on May 5, 1950 Toshimichi Takatsukasa (born August 26, 1923, † January 27, 1966), the eldest son of the noble Nobusuke Takatsukasa.
4. Princess Yori ( Yori no miya Atsuko , born March 7, 1931). She married Takamasa Ikeda on October 10, 1952 (* October 21, 1927, † July 21, 2012), eldest son of the former Marquis Nobumasa Ikeda.
5. Crown Prince Akihito (Emperor from 1989 to 2019), (* December 23, 1933); he married on April 10, 1959 Shōda Michiko (born October 20, 1934), the older daughter of Hidesaburo Shōda, the former president and chairman of the Nisshin mill company.
6. Prince Hitachi ( Hitachi no miya Masahito , born November 28, 1935) married Hanako Tsugaru (born July 19, 1940) on October 30, 1964, the fourth daughter of former Count Yoshitaka Tsugaru.
7. Princess Suga ( Suga no miya Takako , born March 2, 1939) married Hisanaga Shimazu, son of the former Count Hisanori Shimazu, on March 3, 1960.

Hirohito lifted the system of concubines that had been common in Japan until then , which led to discussions about him, as the marriage had so far not produced any male offspring. However, these fell silent when his first son Akihito was born.

Succession to the throne

Hirohito had practically held the reign since 1921 due to the illness of his father, the Taishō Emperor Yoshihito . With his death on December 25, 1926, Hirohito became the 124th emperor. The new era of Shōwa ( Enlightened Peace ) was proclaimed. On November 10, 1928 he was crowned in the Kyoto Imperial Palace .

The new emperor was the first Japanese monarch in several hundred years, whose birth mother was the official wife of his predecessor.

The beginning of the rule

Hirohito, 1932

The first years of Hirohito's reign were marked by an increase in the strength of the military in government, operated by both legal and illegal means. The Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy had veto power over cabinet formation since 1900 , and between 1921 and 1944 there were no fewer than 64 cases of right-wing political violence.

The assassination of moderate Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi in 1932 marked the end of any real civilian control of the military. This was followed by the failed coup attempt in Japan on February 26, 1936 by low-ranking army officers, which caused the militarist faction to lose elections in the Japanese parliament . A number of senior government officials and army officers were murdered during the coup. This was eventually put down, with Hirohito playing an important role.

From the 1930s onwards, however, the military held almost all political power in Japan and pursued policies that eventually led Japan to the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II , which ended with the surrender of Japan .

Second World War

During the Second World War, Japan, under Hirohito's leadership, formed an alliance with Germany and Italy and with them formed the so-called Axis Powers . Immediately after the war ended, many believed that the emperor was primarily responsible for Japan's role in the war; others felt that he was just a powerless puppet and that the real power lay with Tōjō Hideki .

A final assessment is ultimately made more difficult by the fact that the Japanese army command tried after the end of the war to take their emperor out of the focus of interest and consistently destroyed incriminating documents or willingly took responsibility for what happened during the war.

This behavior was in contrast to that of the German generals and Nazi leadership, who tried to assign all responsibility for the events to Adolf Hitler after the end of the Second World War and almost always denied their personal responsibility in general. In addition, the American military government needed Hirohito as what it saw as a stabilizing element of Japanese post-war politics and was therefore just as uninterested in coming to terms with his role during the war as his followers in the military.

Many people in the People's Republic of China , the Republic of China , Korea and Southeast Asia see Hirohito as the warmonger and chief perpetrator of the atrocities of war, and some (including the Soviet Union at the time ) believe that he should have been tried for war crimes. That is why many Asians in the territories occupied by the Japanese at the time still have a hostile attitude towards the Japanese imperial family . The central question remains how much control Hirohito really had over the Japanese military during the war. The view taken by both the Imperial Palace and the American occupation forces immediately after the Second World War was that Hirohito had to behave strictly according to protocol and to keep a distance from the decision-making processes.

On the other hand, recent research by Herbert P. Bix , Akira Fujiwara , Peter Wetzler and Akira Yamada has found evidence that the emperor exercised a high degree of control over the military through middlemen and that he was even the main driving force behind the events of the two Could have been wars. According to the historians Yoshiaki Yoshimi and Seiya Matsuno , Yasuji Okamura received permission from Shōwa-Tennō to use chemical weapons during these battles.

On September 4, 1941, the Japanese cabinet met to discuss the war plans prepared by the Imperial General Headquarters and decided:

“Our Empire will complete preparations for war for the sake of self-defense and self-preservation” and is “determined to go to war with the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands if necessary. At the same time, our empire will use all possible diplomatic means vis-à-vis the United States and the United Kingdom to try to achieve our goals [...]. If there is no prospect of our demands being met by the above diplomatic negotiations by October 10th, we will immediately decide to start hostilities against the US, UK and Netherlands. "

The goals to be achieved were clearly defined: Free hand in the conquest of China and Southeast Asia, no reinforcement of US or British military forces in the region and cooperation of the West "in the acquisition of the goods our empire needed".

On September 5, Prime Minister Konoe informally presented the draft resolution to the emperor, just one day before the imperial conference at which it would be formally enacted. According to traditional views (again in contradiction to Bix's research), Hirohito was deeply affected by the decision to "prefer war preparations to diplomatic negotiations" and announced his intention to break with centuries-old protocol and at the imperial conference the following day to question the chiefs of the general staffs of the army and navy directly - a procedure without precedent in the Japanese history of the last centuries. Konoe quickly convinced Hirohito to convene them instead for a private conference, at which the emperor made it clear that a peaceful solution would have to be pursued “to the last”. The Chief of the General Staff of the Navy, Admiral Osami Nagano , former Minister of the Navy and very experienced, later said to a trusted colleague:

"I have never seen the emperor reprimand us in such a way, his face red and his voice raised."

Still, all speakers at the Imperial Conference agreed that they preferred war to diplomacy. Baron Yoshimichi Hara , President of the Imperial Council and representative of the Emperor, questioned them in detail and received from some replies that war was seen only as a last resort, others were silent.

At this point the emperor astonished everyone in attendance by addressing the conference directly, breaking the tradition of imperial silence. This left his advisors "rigid with shock" (Prime Minister Konoe's description of the event). Emperor Hirohito emphasized the need for a peaceful solution to international problems, expressed regret that his ministers did not answer Baron Hara's questioning and recited a poem by his grandfather Emperor Meiji, which he said he had "read over and over again."

I think so all the people in the world are children of God,
why are the waves and wind so choppy these days?

After recovering from their horror, the ministers hastened to express their deep desire to try all possible peaceful means.

The war preparations were continued without the slightest change and within weeks the cabinet replaced the insufficiently willing to go to war Konoe by the hardliner General Tōjō Hideki , formally elected by Hirohito under the constitution. However, it is debatable whether he was actually favored by Hirohito. On December 8th (December 7th in Hawaii) 1941 Japanese forces attacked the US fleet in Pearl Harbor in simultaneous attacks and began the invasion of Southeast Asia.

Whatever his involvement in the events that led to the first hostilities, as soon as Japan opened the war of aggression, Hirohito showed great interest in military advances and sought to raise morale. At the beginning the Japanese advance went ahead. As the tide began to turn in late 1942 and early 1943, some claim that the flow of information into the palace had less and less to do with reality. Others believe that the emperor worked closely with Prime Minister Tōjō, continued to be well and accurately informed and knew exactly Japan's military situation up to the time of the surrender. In the first six months of the war, all major battles were victories. For the next several years, the series of undecided and then clearly lost battles was sold to the public as a series of great victories. It was only slowly becoming clear to the people on the Japanese islands that the development was to the disadvantage of Japan. The beginning of US air strikes on Japanese cities from 1944 onwards made the propaganda claims of victories finally implausible. Later that year, after the overthrow of the Tōjō government, two other prime ministers were appointed to continue the war, Koiso Kuniaki and Suzuki Kantarō - again with at least formal approval from Hirohito. However, whether he was in line with their policy is debatable. Both were unsuccessful. Japan approached defeat.

Japan surrender

→ Main article : Surrender of Japan

When 66 Japanese cities were over 40% destroyed and some more than 90% destroyed, traffic between the islands was largely paralyzed, the hospitals overcrowded and many people died due to the lack of food , medicine and doctors, the Tennō tried after a few failed Peace negotiations in Bern and Stockholm , asking the government of the Soviet Union to mediate. The Japanese leadership hoped to negotiate with the Allies through Joseph Stalin . The following radio message was sent to the Japanese ambassador Naotake Sato in Moscow on July 12, 1945 :

“His Majesty is anxious to end the war as soon as possible because its continuation will only prolong and exacerbate the terrible suffering of many millions of innocent people in the warring states. Our government therefore wishes to begin negotiations on the restoration of peace as soon as possible. Prince Konoe will therefore travel to Moscow with a personal message from our Tenno. You are requested to ask the Soviet government to facilitate his trip. If the United States and the United Kingdom insist on the unconditional surrender of Japan, we would, with the deepest regret, be compelled to defend our honor and the very existence of the nation to the bitter end. "

While thousands of people died every day and the Japanese government failed to make a full offer of surrender, Stalin used protocol excuses and postponed the transmission of Hirohito's news until July 18, 1945. However, Washington had already deciphered the previous radio message from the Japanese Foreign Ministry and was aware of Hirohito's efforts. At the Potsdam Conference on July 18, US President Truman personally received a copy of the Tennō's mediation attempt from Stalin with the remark that it should not be taken seriously because it did not include the war goal of unconditional surrender.

Truman, who was sufficiently informed about the radio message and the attempts of Japanese diplomats in Bern and Stockholm , had planned the dropping of the first atomic bomb for August 3rd and had already agreed with Stalin on February 11th, 1945 during the Yalta Conference that the Soviet Union should contrary to their neutrality agreement with Japan , they would enter the Pacific War two to three months after the German defeat , and also promised rich booty. The secret agreement of February 11th states, among other things:

“ Russia's former property rights , violated as a result of the treacherous attack by Japan in 1904, are to be restored. A) The southern half of Sakhalin as well as all neighboring islands are to be returned to the Soviet Union. B) The port of Dairen is to be internationalized and Soviet rights are to be secured there. Port Arthur will return to the USSR as a naval base ... C) The Kuril Islands are to be handed over to the Soviet Union. "

On the night of July 26th to 27th, Japan received the answer in the form of an ultimatum drawn up by Truman , Churchill and on behalf of Marshal Chiang Kai-shek , which among other things stated:

“We ask the Japanese government to immediately order the unconditional surrender of all armed forces and provide adequate security for the implementation of these measures. For Japan there is no other solution, unless the total annihilation of the Japanese race. "

The severe punishment of all war criminals on the Japanese side was announced at the same time. The Japanese government did not accept this ultimatum, partly because it was unclear whether the Tennō might not also face punishment as a war criminal. Japan was guilty of the most serious war crimes, especially atrocities against civilians in China ( Nanking Massacre , Unit 731 , Tokyo Trials ). While Hirohito always declared that his personal fate meant nothing and that he would voluntarily sacrifice himself for the existence of the Japanese people after accepting the ultimatum, his advisors feared a communist seizure of power after his loss and still hoped that Moscow would mediate.

During the war, Japan had taken care not to support Germany against the USSR under any circumstances, and had adhered to the neutrality agreement with the USSR. Telegrams passed back and forth between Foreign Minister Togo and Ambassador Naotake Sato, which were intercepted by the US radio reconnaissance, deciphered and presented to the government. However, from the American point of view, concessions to the enemy would not have represented a complete victory and staunch Republicans insisted on the head of Tennō as a signatory of the declaration of war . After days of deliberations, Prime Minister Suzuki said they wanted to " keep silent " ( 黙 殺 , mokusatsu ) about the ultimatum , probably because it did not contain anything new and because it did not respond to ongoing diplomatic efforts by the government (such as assurances that the monarchical form of government would be preserved) and because it continued hoped to get an answer through Soviet mediation. However, the Domei news agency quoted Suzuki in its English reporting that the government would reject the ultimatum . After this last, misleading communication, the first atomic bomb was dropped on the particularly densely populated city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 as a “demonstration of the full use of military capabilities” . On the same day, the Soviet troops invaded Manchukuo and found little resistance, as the occupation forces had been relocated to other fronts in advance . Hirohito stated:

“We have to bow to the inevitable! No matter what happens to me, a tragedy like the one in Hiroshima must not repeat itself! "

Since the fanatics of the Japanese leadership wanted to continue the long hopeless struggle, discussions were held for a further three days until the second atom bomb was detonated over the city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 . The Tennō now decided against the will of the military and government to use his powers and end the war by surrendering. He explained this to his ministers as follows:

“I cannot watch my innocent people suffer any longer! The time has come to endure the unbearable! "

The time after the war

On August 10, 1945, the governments of the USA, the United Kingdom, the Republic of China and the USSR were notified of the acceptance of the ultimatum. On August 12th they received a reply from Washington:

“Starting with the time of the handover, the authority of the Emperor and the Japanese government is subordinate to the Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces. The emperor is obliged [...] to order the Japanese army, fleet and air force to carry out all necessary measures [...]. The final form of government of Japan should be determined according to the free will of the Japanese people. "

So Japan was left to decide whether it would like to keep the Tennō and its bloodline, but the latter should also personally take care of the laying down of the weapons and bear full responsibility for their process, which caused difficulties in the implementation due to the many fanatics. Finally, the Tennō Hirohito himself spoke for the first time through a radio address known as Gyokuon-hōsō to the entire people, although this had been tried from many sides and in many ways:

“The course of the war did not necessarily turn out to be to Japan's advantage [...]. Moreover, the enemy has started using a new and terrible bomb. If we continue the struggle, the result will be the total annihilation of our nation [...]. We have therefore decided on the path of peace [...]. We have to tolerate and endure what seems intolerable [...]. Beware of all outbursts of passion, as they would cause incalculable difficulties for Japan [...]. Let our people survive as one family in peace from one generation to another. Unite all the forces of the nation and dedicate them resolutely to building the future [...]. Go to work, faithful people, to the blessing of the Empire, and take part in the progress of the world. "

General MacArthur and the Emperor

The Americans occupied Japan without anyone resisting unconditional surrender. The attacks on the occupiers and the millions of suicides feared by the Allies did not materialize. General MacArthur , who now ruled the Japanese people, then gave his guidelines for the constitution of the new form of government:

“The emperor should be the symbol of the state and the unity of the people. His position depends on the will of the people who have sovereign power. "

After there was no response from Japan, the Allies again argued about whether Hirohito should not belong to the gallows as a war criminal. On September 26, 1945, to the astonishment of the Allies, Hirohito paid a surprising visit to their Commander-in-Chief MacArthur. He received the Tennō in shirt sleeves to show how little he was impressed by the emperor in the cutaway and top hat . The United States assumed that Hirohito was concerned for his fate and wanted to explain how he had done his best to prevent Japanese aggression as it was for his life. But it turned out completely different from what the USA and MacArthur had ever expected: Hirohito said in the conversation, which had no witnesses except an interpreter, according to MacArthur's report without the usual exchange of courtesies:

“I come to you, General, to submit myself to the judgment of the powers that you represent. I am solely responsible for every military and political decision, as well as for all actions of my subjects during the course of the war. "

MacArthur went on to report that he was overcome by "deepest movement". Assuming all guilt would undoubtedly have meant the death sentence for the Tennō in a war crimes trial. MacArthur then said of Hirohito:

"He was an emperor by birth, but even more, as I now recognized, namely the finest gentleman in Japan."

On the same day MacArthur argued to his government that it was impossible to prosecute Hirohito and that Japan could not do without him. Hirohito's opponents in the new US administration forced the Japanese press to publish the well-known photo showing Hirohito in official dress next to the shirt-sleeved MacArthur, who towers over him by a head and hides his hands in his pockets while standing crooked bored look dodges the camera.

Since his property had been confiscated by the new government, Hirohito was soon unable to even reward gardeners. When it became known that the imperial gardens were overgrown, 20,000 men and women of all ages signed up within a few days to take over the work free of charge. The police had to intervene, otherwise those at the gates would have crushed each other. Since the Americans were still of the opinion that the Tenno enjoyed too high a reputation, they asked him to confess publicly that he was not a god and a person like everyone else. Since no Tennō had ever claimed that he was a divine being ( arahitogami ), Hirohito made a statement in his usual New Year's message that did not change the ancient tradition for the Japanese that his ancestors were descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu :

"Those bonds that enclose me and my people are not based on the false idea that the Tennō is divine."

Later rule

November 3, 1946 Hirohito signs the Japanese Constitution

Hirohito, 1983

For the rest of his life, Emperor Hirohito was an active figure in Japanese life, performing numerous head of state duties. The emperor and his family had a strong public presence, were often seen on public paths, and performed on special events and holidays.

Hirohito also played an important role in rebuilding Japan's diplomatic position abroad. While traveling abroad, he met with many foreign heads of state including the US President and Queen Elizabeth II.

Hirohito was very interested in marine biology , which is why the imperial palace housed a laboratory. The emperor published several scientific papers on this subject and was considered one of the most respected jellyfish experts in the world. He is the first to describe the following species of cnidarians:

• Anthohebella najimaensis (1995)
• Clytia multiannulata (1995)
• Corydendrium album (1988)
• Corydendrium brevicaulis (1988)
• Corymorpha sagamina (1988)
• Coryne sagamiensis (1988)
• Dynamena ogasawarana (1974)
• Halecium perexiguum (1995)
• Halecium pyriforme (1995)
• Hydractinia bayeri (1984)
• Hydractinia cryptoconcha (1988)
• Hydractinia cryptogonia (1988)
• Hydractinia granulata (1988)
• Hydrodendron leloupi (1983)
• Hydrodendron stechowi (1988)
• Hydrodendron violaceum (1995)
• Perarella parastichopae (1988)
• Pseudoclathrozoon (1967)
• Pseudoclathrozoon cryptolarioides (1967)
• Pseudosolanderia sagamina (1988)
• Scandia najimaensis (1995)
• Sertularia stechowi (1995)
• Stylactaria brachyurae (1988)
• Stylactaria monoon (1988)
• Stylactaria reticulata (1988)
• Stylactaria sagamiensis (1988)
• Stylactaria spinipapillaris (1988)
• Tetrapoma fasciculatum (1995)
• Tripoma arboreum (1995)
• Tubularia japonica (1988)
• Zygophylax sagamiensis (1983)

death

On September 22, 1987, Hirohito underwent pancreatic surgery after several months of digestive problems. Doctors discovered cancer in the duodenum, but in accordance with Japanese tradition, they did not tell him so. Hirohito appeared to be recovering well after the operation. About a year later, on September 19, 1988, he collapsed in his palace and his health deteriorated in the following months as he suffered from constant internal bleeding. Hirohito died on January 7, 1989 at 6:33 a.m. At 7:55 a.m., the chief chamberlain of the imperial court office , Shoichi Fujimori, officially announced the death of the emperor and disclosed details of his cancer for the first time. With his death he was called "Emperor Shōwa" ( Shōwa Tennō ) after the era in which he ruled . The funeral took place on February 24th, and unlike all of his predecessors, he was not buried strictly according to the rules of Shinto . Many leading politicians from around the world attended. He is buried in a mausoleum in the Musashi Imperial Cemetery near Hachiōji .

Yasukuni shrine

Hirohito stayed away from the political clashes over the controversial Yasukuni Shrine , a Shinto shrine for the soldiers who died for the Japanese emperor. After it became known that the new high priest had also incarcerated Class A war criminals in 1978 , Hirohito boycotted the shrine until his death. This boycott was continued by his son and successor, Akihito , who has also refused to visit Yasukuni since 1978, unlike many Japanese prime ministers.

Awards

Japan:

• Order of chrysanthemums , grand cross with order chain
• Order of the Rising Sun , Order of the Paulownia Blossom
• Order of the Golden Consecration , Grand Cross
• Order of the Holy Treasure , Grand Cross

Foreign countries:

• Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany , special grade of the Grand Cross
• Order of Saint Olav , Grand Cross with chain of orders
• Order of the Golden Fleece (1928)
• Order of the Garter (1929-1942, restored in 1971)
• Order of the Bath , Grand Cross
• Royal Victorian Order , Grand Cross
• Field Marshal of the United Kingdom (from June 26, 1930-1942)
• Fellow of the Royal Society

literature

• Leonard Mosley: Hirohito, Emperor of Japan. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs 1966, ISBN 1-111-75539-6 , ISBN 1-199-99760-9 . - The first detailed biography about Hirohito.
• Edwin P. Hoyt: Hirohito: The Emperor and the Man. Praeger Publishers, 1992, ISBN 0-275-94069-1 .
• Edward Behr: Hirohito: Behind the Myth. Villard, New York, 1989. - A controversial book that states that Hirohito was more active in World War II than publicly admitted; it helped re-evaluate its role.
• Herbert P. Bix: Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. HarperCollins, 2000, ISBN 0-06-019314-X . - A more recent and carefully source-based look at the same subject, substantiating Behr's fundamental views.
• Peter Wetzler : Hirohito and War: Imperial Tradition and Military Decision Making in Prewar Japan. University of Hawaii Press, 1998, ISBN 0-8248-1925-X .
• Toshiaki Kawahara: Hirohito and His Times: A Japanese Perspective. Kodansha International, 1997, ISBN 0-87011-979-6 . - About the traditional Japanese image of Hirohito's life.

Web links

Commons : Hirohito  - Collection of Images

• Literature by and about Hirohito in the catalog of the German National Library
• Newspaper article about Hirohito in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
• 昭和 天皇 ・ 香 淳 皇后 , information on the website of the Imperial Court Office (Japanese)
• Hirohito, Emperor . Article in A Trivial Encyclopedia of Japan (multilingual)
• Arcucci, Isabella: Tenno Hirohito - The "Hitler of Asia"? Bavaria 2 radio knowledge . Broadcast on October 31, 2016 (podcast)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Obituary: Hirohito . In: Der Spiegel . No. 2 , 1989, pp. 178 ( online - Jan. 9, 1989 ).
2. ^ Herbert P. Bix: Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan . HarperCollins, 2000.
3. ↑ Akira Fujiwara: Showa tenno no ju-go nen senso . 1991.
4. ↑ Peter Wetzler: Hirohito and War. Imperial Tradition and Military Decision Making in Prewar Japan . University of Hawaii Press, 1998.
5. ↑ Akira Yamada: Daigensui Showa tenno . 1994.
6. ↑ Yoshiaki Yoshimi / Seiya Matsuno: Dokugasusen Kankei Shiryô II (Material on Toxic Gas Warfare). Kaisetsu, 1997, pp. 25-29.
7. ↑ uBio. The Marine Biological Laboratory, accessed July 9, 2012 . 
8. ↑ Hirohito quit Yasukuni Shrine visits over concerns about war criminals. In: The New York Times. April 26, 2007, accessed September 23, 2015 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b c d} The London Gazette . June 27, 1930, p. 4028 ( digitized version ).
10. ↑ Britain wanted limited restoration of royal family's honors . In: Japan Policy & Politics . January 7, 2002 ( full text ).
11. ^ EJH Corner: His Majesty Emperor Hirohito of Japan, KG In: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society . Vol. 36, December 1, 1990, pp. 242-272 , doi : 10.1098 / rsbm.1990.0032 .

predecessor	Office	successor
Yoshihito	Emperor of Japan 1926–1989	Akihito