Why was Hirohito not hung for his part in Japanese war crimes?

The Japanese emperor is the oldest line in the world. He has always been a symbol of the Japanese people, even when powerless. Not to mention being a religious figure.
Hitler isn't even comparable.
There would have been huge groups of resistance fighters, and the common Jap would hate the US intensely. And so would his kids, and their kids.
It's ridiculous to think Japan wasn't much easier to occupy and reconcile with with a friendly emperor on the throne. Beyond that, very few really wanted to execute him.

to prove you're good guys and prevent any animosity.

Why did these fanatics not lose their minds over the Humanity Declaration then?

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanity_Declaration

Why weren’t any head nazis pardon to prevent animosity?

Most of the Wehrmacht's general staff were. Doenitz, Hitler's successor, was as well. It's not like there were no trials in Japan, Tojo and some of his chums had to eat it

>However, the meaning of the exact contents – delivered in stilted, archaic court Japanese – has been the subject of much debate. In particular, for the phrase officially translated into English as "the false conception that the Emperor is divine", the unusual phrase akitsumikami (現御神) was used instead of the common word arahitogami (現人神, "living god"). While usually glossed as "divinity" in English, some Western commentators, such as John W. Dower and Herbert P. Bix, have argued that this means "manifest kami" (or more loosely "incarnation of a god"), and the Emperor could still be an arahitogami even if he is not an akitsumikami.[citation needed] However, the Japanese dictionary Kōjien indicates that arahitogami is included in the meaning of akitsukami / akitsumikami, which is used to show esteem for the Emperor. [2]
This might have kept them calm.

The fact remains a gaijin was forcing the “divine” Emperor to act in certain ways. Why did the “roving bands of fanatics” not start their guerilla war against the invaders, if they were so devoted to the Emperor?

Doing so is counterproductive to the occupation

Possibly. De facto the emperor had no power, even though he was de jure the head of state.

It's assuming a lot. Namely that he was informed of everything. And that the military wouldn't try to stop him, like they did tried in 1945. But it takes a deeper understanding of Japanese culture, and the role of the Imperial court.

But a more direct and simple answer is that he wasn't hung because McAuther thought it was better to keep the Japanese society in tact, rather than dismantle it, bring on civil war/rebellions, and to have the conservatives/elites on their side.

The imperial system has some 1500+ year history of a single dynasty that is interwoven onto the mythical genesis of Japan. The Kaiser united German like 60 years ago, and Europeans change dynasties all the time. Not exactly the same.

However, depositing an emperor isn't unheard of, the Showa emperor's son or bother could have reigned with him being deposed. However the Meiji elites had turned the emperor from a divine ruler to a living god.

Why would they want to kill him? There's absolutly no benefit in that

Because he was speaking archaic court Japanese. 90% of the average Japanese person had no idea what he was saying.
Also he said he wasn't a living god, which traditionally the Japanese emperor wasn't. However he didn't say that he wasn't divine.

>kill Emperor Hirohito
>Japs go insurgent-mode and never accept the government America installed in Japan after the war
Great idea!

Because he didn't have any? All power in Japan was usurped by the military clique, on par with Shogunate. Because he was willing to drop his pants and bend in front of American occupying force and was pretty influential person in Japan?

nazis were new guys who took over the country

because macarthur was convinced he would be useful and hirohito himself convinced them he would be useful.
dismantling the official church did not magically cause most japanese to not believe in his authority, he actually went on nationwide tours a few years after the war where the people went apeshit for him (they were stopped because it was extravagant/the obvious pro emperor propaganda involved). though you are correct that they did not necessarily need hirohito. could have easily picked a relative or akihito.
because he divine emperor was enthusiastically cooperating with them.
people underappreciate how much of the old regime was allowed to remain virtually unpunished post war thanks to macarthur.
hell Abes grandfather Nobusuke Kishi was considered a war criminal for his role in manchukuo, and he would become prime minister for a period in the 50s

>Herbert Bix
a professor a my uni funny enough, also used his book on this subject for a different class by chance.
the dude quite zealously promotes the view that hirohito was intimately involved in directing and supported WW2, not to mention being a major political actor, and while most of his analysis is good his analysis of hirohito’s thinking are pure conjecture due to a paucity of sources.
the imperial household has hirohito’s diary locked up fucking tight (and some nip guy bought one of the few potential primary sources floating around with the explicit goal of protecting hirohito) so we’re not going to actually know his thinking on shit like this for some time

>An asian manlet
>hung
Pick one.

gave MacAurthur a good blumper

It's amazing to realize that the monarchy will outlive this shit we call democracy. That is justice itself.

What are you talking about? We kept the Emperor alive expressly so we could use him to rewrite Japan's constitution.

He was a living god until we declared he wasn't..

McArthur was infantilized the Japanese, thinking that they needed the Emperor. So he whitewashed the Emperor and spread the "he had no power he was a gud boy" meme.

Fucking idiot. If it took you this long to shut the fuck up then you're either a troll or a salty bitch. I hate faggots like you who automatically think they know everything, despite continuously being shown what a fucking retard you are.

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>Go insurgent-mode because they kill the leader
>Don't go insurgent-mode because they drop 2 nukes on you, killing tens of thousands

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You are comparing party scum to the holder of an ancient throne.

Why? He did literally nothing. In fact, he was in some random island studying some random fish to finish his marine biology degree when Pearl Harbor happened.

>Be Supreme Commander and have ultimate responsibility for the military.
>Be informed of its actions.
>He shouldn't be hung because he was powerless.
That isn't how it works considering Hirohito was part of the military before even becoming Emperor.

Because retarded MUH JUSTICE punitive bullshit just make the losers hate you and come back for your ass later (see: World War 1 to World War 2) and reconciliation creates lasting peace and strong allies for the future.

Easy, because if the Japanese had a popular monarch and/or religions that shits on communism they would be much less likely to become commies. Same thing happened in Thailand.

I mean, it worked didnt it?

>Anything in history
>working

Yeah, and I bet Marius though his military reforms had “worked” in saving the republic, har har

Hirohito was unironically one of the biggest pieces of shit for a leader Japan has ever had.

"We were ordered to go die for victory. . . . Who gave the orders for that stupid war? The closer you get to the emperor, the fuzzier everything gets... We were following his orders. After the war, the emperor should have quit, shaved his head and retired to a temple to take responsibility."

-Saburō Sakai, Japanese Navy pilot and ace

Even the ultranationalist Yukio Mishima denounced him as a weakling for renouncing his divinity after millions of Japanese soldiers had spilled their blood on his behalf.

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>Why did the “roving bands of fanatics” not start their guerilla war against the invaders, if they were so devoted to the Emperor?
Because the Emperor explicitly told them not to do that.

This. The entire royal family was saved by MacArthur's rager over being the dominator of an emperor. They guaranteed protection of the royal family, forced the Japanese war criminal's at the Tokyo military trials to avoid implicating the royal family. The Japs didn't even think we would let him stay in power and picked a replacement and a backup.

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Surely an order he was forced to give by the gaijin over him. Why not fight to release the divine emperor from the influence of the invaders?

Because the Japs would've never cooperated with the US if they did. It would just be protracted bloodbath, and the Japs would've probably colluded with the Soviets just to kick out the yankees.

>Obey the emperor by ignoring his direct orders

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Biggest problem with the Japanese military was really rooted in the whole "saving face" thing which lead to generals and admirals outright lying about their failures and real state of things.I can only imagine Hirohito must have been fed the same shit considering military effectively took over Japan.

>what is all of Japanese history

>Soviets

Stalin publicly called for the death of Hirohito

The cult of extreme obedience to the emperor during the early Shōwa period can't really be compared to any other period of Japanese history.

Except it wasn't obedience to the Emperor, it was obedience to his ministers (which is basically the same shit as the kampaku and then Shogun position had been pulling for hundreds of years) there's a reason Hirohito directly addressing the populace broke the Japanese resistance

A convenient lie. He had power. In fact, he was the driving force behind Manchurian expansion. His power however was mainly limited to that role. The invasion into the China was the army generals (and him/officials back in japan opposing this direction). The war against US was the navy's direction as he opposed it with a poem.

>Has the power to surrender
>Doesn't have the power to stop Pearl Harbor

Interesting.

>there's a reason Hirohito directly addressing the populace broke the Japanese resistance
Because Showa propaganda stressed the primacy of the emperor in a way that no previous Japanese era had ever done.

Exactly, how can they be obedient to a guy who never actually addresses them in any fashion or proposes policy? They were loyal to what they saw as his divine instruments in government (who generally hadn't given a shit what the emperor said since Taiho was ill all the time)

Thanks newfriend, but we are talking about a hypothetical situation where the Americans HAD ALSO DONE SO.

ITT: we post parodies of famous paintings

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well at least Tojo got the noose

Which begs the question of why Hirohito didn’t seeing as Tojo got all his major orders signed off by the Emperor.

Maybe they though he got coerced into doing it and Tojo had the upper hand? one of them also happened to be a general while the other had divine status and his execution wouldn't go over well

just my two cents

There is a Japanese movie that deals with this them called 'Japan's Longest Day'. Veeky Forums recommended.

I’d recommend the book more than the film.

One is a factual telling, one is an anti-war drama

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so is Rising sun by John toland a good overview of Japan's role in WW2?

It’s one of the few books in English that focuses on the Japanese in WWII

But it’s by a massive weeb who is very eager to overlook Japanese incompetence in their operations and cruelty in their war crimes.

It’s an acceptable undergrad text, given you understand the biases involved.

well yeah when I was looking for books on Japan and WW2 this one that was the most recommended

you have any other suggestions?

can you blame them?

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Do you read Japanese?

Is this “that” girls und panzer dousing?

The audacity of these fucking gooks to write shit like this after we thoroughly kicked their asses not even a century ago.

It’s a satire.

The girls are slaughtered on the next pages.

ok now you've got my dick hard, sauce?

>T. Jap

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>he was the driving force behind Manchurian expansion.
>The invasion into the China was the army generals (and him/officials back in japan opposing this direction)
Unless you mean different things by Manchurian expansion and invasion into China, your two sentences contradict each other. I'm interested in seeing your sources for the emperor being the driving force behind the Manchurian expansion too; Japanese museums all insist that it was the army stationed in China being a bunch of loose cannons and that the Japanese government proper had no part in it, and I want to get a different perspective.

If the Pope orders a catholic country to do something, do they always do it?

Not even close, try again

The Emperor never ordered around other ethnics besides the Japanese and he never left Japan.

nope

I suppose I should have been more specific, books in english

My point is that you're confusing his role as "emperor" with being like a Roman emperor or Emperor Palpatine or some shit. He's a figurehead and much closer to being like the "pope" of the Japanese with beloved figurehead (Like the current British monarchy) than he is to being an emperor in the usual sense of the word. Despite the reverence in which he is held he's circumscribed by labyrinthine protocol and tradition and has been raised from his very first minute to conform to a particular code of behavior and very limited prerogatives. The military called the shots and had he strenuously tried to resist the move to war before everything had fallen apart in 1945, he simply would have been quietly moved into seclusion (house arrest) by the military junta and kept quiet. His ability to influence the secular affairs of state is quite limited, a very well-established state of affairs going back to the Shogunate. The Emperors reign but they seldom rule in Japanese history.

Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 by Max Hastings

A War It Was Always Going to Lose: Why Japan Attacked America in 1941 by Jeffery Record

Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy by Eri Hotta

Even so, the fact he didn’t even try still puts blame and responsibility on him.

Had he tried and been put under house arrest, I’d be much more sympathetic to the guy.

But he didn’t even try, when he held was in all honesty the most powerful position in all of Japan.