So emperor Hirohito died and lived to his 80s or 90s, why wasn’t he instantly killed or sent to jail after the war ended. Did he get punished at all?
In: 1701
During WW2 and prior, the Japanese people largely saw Emperor Hirohito as a literal god. Their soldiers and even civilians had shown an eager willingness to die in pursuit of honoring Japan, even after the war was clearly lost from a strategic sense. Not just some, but like basically every Japanese soldier would have to be killed because nobody surrendered. “Fanatics” was a common term used by American veterans. Americans didn’t want to see any more killings at that point in 1945, they just wanted to strip Japan of any power to fight them any more and start rebuilding. Casualty rates exploded on places important to Japan like Okinawa. And civilian casualties especially (and many suicides). The US didn’t want to have to invade homeland Japan, it’d be a brutal fight. And the firebombings of cities that killed tens of thousands very regularly didn’t make Japan capitulate. Then, 2 nuclear weapons (and the bluffing threat of more soon) did for the Emperor, finally. That said, many Japanese soldiers still believed in the cause after nuclear weapons were used, and there was even a failed coup attempt to try to force Hirohito from surrendering. Thousands of Japanese soldiers continued fighting after the war, a few for years. It’s not hard to believe that if someone who is their living embodiment of a God were executed or taken from Japan, the Japanese people would revolt. America just wanted out of the Pacific war. Europe was over with and wrapping up, and many saw exactly what the Soviet threat turned out to be. It was just so much easier to stop the destruction, get our POWs out, and if that means some of the leadership weren’t held fully accountable, it’s worth it to end the war and stop the ever rising death toll. Finally, WW2 could be over. So who cares if they keep a figurehead, if it helps to support peace and rebuilding.
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