Since the Sino-Japanese War of 1937, Japan quickly annexed most of East Asia and made it join the "co-prosperity circle". Hirohito was accused of agreeing with the foreign policy that led to this war, and approved tojo hideki to form a fascist axis with Nazi, German Hitler and Italian Mussolini to wage war in the Asian battlefield of World War II and invade China and other countries. Some people think that Hirohito gave a formal instruction to the government's decision to participate in the war. According to his understanding of the Constitution, he is obliged to support the policies adopted by the Cabinet.
194 1 65438+February 7, 2008, Japan suddenly attacked the US naval base in Pearl Harbor, which led the United States and its allies to join the war against Japan. 1945 After the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in August, Hirohito was asked to attend the special meeting of the wartime Supreme State Council to consider and discuss the surrender conditions proposed by the United States and its allies. He and then Prime Minister Suzuki advocated Japan's surrender. As the political and military members of the Committee could not reach an agreement on whether to surrender, the Prime Minister asked the Emperor to make a final decision. Hirohito agreed to surrender and accept the Potsdam Proclamation; Among them, "unconditional surrender" implies a condition: not to abolish the emperor. 15 In August, Hirohito explained the reasons for surrender to the Japanese people through radio in an unprecedented way. This broadcast is called Echo Broadcast, and many Japanese civilians can't understand the content of the broadcast because they use a lot of imperial letters in China classical Chinese.
Rules after 1946
After the war, countries including the Soviet Union demanded the abolition of the Emperor. However, in order to prevent communism from spreading in Asia, the United States needs to establish a non-communist economic power in Asia. Without the emperor, Japan's domestic society would be in turmoil, because Japan has long promoted the education of mythical emperor and loyalty to the emperor, and the emperor has become the spiritual pillar in the hearts of most Japanese. Therefore, the United States needs General douglas macarthur and other officials to jointly show that Hirohito was not primarily responsible for the Second World War. This view has been greatly welcomed by the Japanese people.
On New Year's Day (1946), Hirohito made a declaration in the world, denying the sacred status of the Emperor and admitting that he was like ordinary people, not a god. After the American occupation of Japan, douglas macarthur, the supreme leader, was the one who actually controlled Japan's sovereignty. Under his intervention, 1947 adopted the new constitution of Japan, which changed the position of the emperor as the supreme ruler into a symbol of a country, put forward that the supreme sovereignty belongs to the people, and truly implemented constitutional democracy.
Hirohito's later years: Meeting with US President Ronald Reagan In keeping with the constitutional changes, Hirohito dressed himself as a democratic monarch after the war: meeting civilians and allowing members of the royal family to be photographed. He also visited the disaster area and inspected Japan's post-war construction. His heir to the throne, Prince Akihito, also broke with tradition and married an ordinary woman instead of a member of a noble family. Hirohito 197 1 visited western Europe, 1975 visited the United States, which was his first visit to a foreign country as emperor.