Emperor Page #4

at that meeting.

The Emperor does not

express himself directly,

as most men do.

Well, I'm going to express

myself very directly,

because 2,000 years

of your national identity are on the line.

Did the Emperor order

the attack on Pearl Harbor?

As I said, His Majesty

recited a tanka poem

written by his grandfather.

I'll be happy to recite it

again for you, General.

If you want to save the Emperor

from being deposed

and put on trial...

I'm gonna need more,

Mr. Woe Minister,

and I'm gonna need it soon.

General Fellers!

Leave me alone.

You are bleeding.

Please, General, come with me.

Why?

You want to give me that list,

Takahashi?

The list of the dead.

I don't have it, sir.

Then go home.

Don't you have a family

to go home to?

Here, you should add that its roots

are in religious traditions

and can be traced back to Shinto.

If you understand devotion,

you will understand Japan.

There are two Japanese words

you should know.

"Tatemae,"

the way things appear,

"honne, "

the way they really are.

When you look at Japan,

you see the most modern

and Westernized of Asian countries,

but that is a tatemae, the surface.

And the honne?

It is the true heartbeat

of my country,

which is more

than 2,000 years old.

It has nothing to do

with the West.

Japan runs on the ancient warrior code

of loyalty and obedience.

After an exhaustive review,

I can find no evidence

exonerating the Emperor.

As Head of State,

Hirohito cannot sidestep war guilt.

I have no choice

but to conclude that he is part of,

and must be considered

an instigator

of the Pacific war.

His arrest and trial may cause

significant internal unrest,

but it is necessary.

General Fellers, good news.

What? What time is it?

Midnight, sir.

Kido wants to talk to you.

I'm going to bed.

You don't understand, sir.

I found Kido.

I'm not doing this anymore.

Tomorrow I'll tell MacArthur

I couldn't give him his miracle.

But he is here, sir!

- Kidds here?

- Yes.

Where?

He is coming up.

General Fellers.

Hate to disturb you

at this hour, sir.

Aya Shimada.

She's from a prominent

semi-noble family

just outside Shizuoka City.

Her father is a major landholder.

They were at college

together in America.

Now, we know

he visited her in Japan.

These are the dates he was here.

There were no prohibitions

against traveling to Japan

before the war.

Forgive me, sir, but plain and simple,

he's a Jap lover.

That's the worst you have?

No, sir. The worst is right here.

Fellers had direct input

into the selection of targets in Japan

for Allied bombing raids

from August 1942 to July 1945.

And he attempted

to steer planners away

from targets in Shizuoka,

near where Aya Shimada

frequently worked as a teacher.

Excellent work, General.

I'll hold on to these for now.

By all means, sir.

And I will see to it

that you are rewarded

for your dedication, Richter.

Just doing what's right, sir.

Carry on.

You understand, this is sensitive.

Certain people won't appreciate

my speaking with you.

On August 9th, the Supreme Council

convened at midnight

to discuss whether or not

to surrender.

Fires burned throughout the city.

Three chief ministers from the council

spoke against the surrender.

The Foreign Minister,

the Navy Minister,

the President of the Privy Council

wanted to surrender.

It was three to three, deadlock.

And how did they break

the deadlock?

The Emperor began to speak.

"I trust the Allies," he said.

"I want to accept their terms.

"I wish you all

to agree with me."

The War Minister, Anami,

begged the Emperor...

"You must not surrender."

The Emperor repeated,

"I wish you all to agree with me, "

and then he left the room.

And what about

the fanatics in the army?

What happened?

What about them?

His Majesty knew

they would keep fighting,

so he decided to broadcast

his wishes to the people.

He made a recording,

and we were ready to send it

to Radio Tokyo for broadcast.

What time was that?

At 11 P.M.

Suddenly...

A thousand soldiers

attacked the Palace.

They all came at once?

Six different times.

They were looking

for the recording.

They were also coming to kill me.

And I believe they would

have killed His Majesty.

We hid together

in a basement room.

They never found us,

or the recording.

At 8:
00 A.M.,

General Tanaka arrived

and stopped the soldiers,

and many of the officers

shot themselves.

Then General Tanaka

went into his room

and shot himself.

Hours later,

the recording was broadcast,

and the whole nation

heard the Emperor

tell them in his own voice

that Japan had accepted

the Allies' terms.

I need proof that this happened

the way you just told me.

All records were destroyed,

and many witnesses

killed themselves.

You can believe me or not,

but that is the true story

of how Japan surrendered.

I only have his word.

How do I know it's

not blind loyalty to the Emperor?

Can I take you, sir?

I'll be all right.

I do want to apologize

for the things that I said.

No need, sir.

You don't have a family, do you,

Mr. Takahashi?

My wife died

in one of the first raids

to hit Tokyo.

How did you cope?

I didn't.

I thought I would die, too.

You must go.

The police are starting

to round up Americans.

Our countries

will soon be at war.

The car will take you.

They are watching the trains.

Where's Aya?

You're putting Aya at risk.

You must never see her again.

No. You can't do this.

What you want is impossible.

Go.

I need to say something to you.

I commanded troops.

Yes. I looked up your record.

You were at Saipan, Okinawa.

Bloody battles.

We did our duty,

but we lost our humanity.

You must understand,

we Japanese

are a selfless people,

capable of immense sacrifice

because of our complete devotion

to a set of ideals.

We are also ruthless warriors,

capable of unspeakable crimes

because of that

same complete devotion.

I cannot tell you if the Emperor

is guilty or innocent.

I don't know

if he brought us to war.

But he has brought us to peace.

He made a brave decision

against intense pressure.

I know you would do the same.

They were written for you.

You gave me such happiness,

but life is not so simple.

I hope someday

you will understand

that I only ever had one choice.

In the end, I am where I belong,

but my heart is with you always.

Yours, Aya.

She died with honor.

It is a fundamental American concept

that the people of any nation

have the inherent right

to choose their own government.

Were the Japanese

given this opportunity,

they would select the Emperor

as their symbolic head of state.

In effecting

our bloodless occupation,

we requisitioned

the services of the Emperor.

By his order, seven million soldiers

laid down their arms.

Through his act,

hundreds of thousands

of American casualties

were avoided.

His guilt or innocence in the prosecution

of the war is unknowable.

But his decisive role in ending

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