Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan .
HarperCollins Publishers .
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Until the late thirties, Hirohito favored peace. Then, amid Japan's war against China, he took sides, supporting, not surprisingly, the nation that he was believed to be leading: Japan. It was an age of empire, and Hirohito accepted Japan's imperialism -- just as Churchill of Britain had accepted his nation's imperialism. Hirohito joined with those in Japan who believed that Japan's holdings on Asia's mainland -- mainly in Manchuria -- were vital to Japan's success. Victory eluded the Japanese in China, and his generals were reluctant to accept failure in China -- the acceptance of failure being difficult for many people. Hirohito faced a great decision: whether to give up Japan's occupation of China or, in order to continue the war, to extend war to the Dutch, British and Americans, who were holding back resources that the Japanese needed to pursue war. .
Europe was at war, and Hirohito saw Japan's ally in Europe, Germany, at the height of its power. Hirohito sought assurances that Japan would be victorious in an extended war. He was told that there was no 100 percent probability of victory, but he was given an analogy in the form of a question: If a doctor's prognoses offers a seventy percent chance of survival if surgery is performed, don't you think one must try surgery? Hirohito accepted this with the same ease that some voters in the United States accept muddled arguments and glib demagoguery. Neither Hirohito nor his generals understood what they were getting their nation into. .
During the war, Hirohito was a patriotic ruler. He demanded success of his subordinates in the military. By 1944 chances for success appeared minuscule, or non-existent for Japan, and again Hirohito and others faced failure.
