immutable
spirit
Image:
Before the defeat of Japan by Allied forces
in 1945, Hirohito, as commander of the Japanese armed forces, was
frequently pictured in military uniform atop his white horse. He presented
a stern, unsmiling, and god-like image, since, in the Shinto belief,
the Emperor was thought to have descended from the Sun-Goddess. Photographs
which showed the Emperor smiling or laughing or made him appear shorter
than those around him (which he generally was) were forbidden to be
shown to the public. (used by
arrangement with Corbis-Bettmann Archive)
Sound: DOF anthropologist Kyung-Koo Han
sings a stanza from a Japanese military song entitled Sakura.
The words to the song are:
--Load time: ~14 sec.
"You and
I,
we are cherry-blossoms of the same class,
we fight for the army and navy air-wing,
like the cherry blossoms we will fall,
but in glory and in fashion."
Image:
Her Axis partners, Italy and
Germany had surrendered in the Spring of 1945. Mussolini and Hitler
had both suffered violent deaths, yet Japan held out against the Allied
forces. Here, marking the final turning point of WII, the atomic bomb
explodes over Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. Another was to be dropped
on Nagasaki several days later in case there was any doubt that the
Allies meant business. A few days later, Japan surrendered. Hirohito
spoke briefly to the Japanese people over the radio to announce the
sombre news. This was the first time his astonished subjects had heard
the voice of their Emperor. (credit:
National Archives, USA)
Sound: This Universal News Reel
story of 1945 reports the bombing of Hiroshima from an American perspective.
(credit: National Archives, USA)
--Load time: ~10 sec.
Post-war
ventriloquism
Image:
A few days after the defeat of Japan by Allied forces,
Hirohito paid a visit to General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander
of the Allied Forces.
Later, on the Battleship Missouri, a formal ceremony would be held in
which representatives of the Emperor would sign documents of surrender.
Hirohito was spared execution for his war crimes, because the Allies
felt that as a purely symbolic Emperor, he could be useful to them in
carrying out their plans for post-war Japan. Under MacArthur's tutelage,
Hirohito announced that he was not a god, but merely a normal man. Japan
was given a new constitution written for them by the Americans and still
in use today.
Music
montage: The Japanese National anthem,
Kimigayo, begins and is at once interrupted by General Douglas
MacArthur announcing the surrender of Japan accompanied by a rousing
rendition of Star Spangled Banner (the national anthem of the
USA). A fragment of the Japanese anthem reappears and fades away. (credit:
sound montage by L. Fisher using fragments from Star-Spangled Banner,
Kimigayo, and the voice of General MacArthur (Universal Newsreel,
National Archives, USA)
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a tale of two deaths
Images:
When Hirohito died on January 7,
1989, his death had been expected. He was elderly and had been ill. Still,
there was mourning throughout Japan. There was complete decorum regarding
treatment of his body. Six weeks after his death, on the same day, two
funerals took place. The first was a private Shinto style ceremony which
was attended by family and close associates. The second was a carefully
orchestrated public event which featured a hearse, motorcycle escort,
honor guard, streets lined with the mourning masses, and a huge gathering
of dignitaries from around the world. Hirohito's son, Prince Akihito,
was crowned Emperor and today presides, if merely symbolically, over modern-day
Japan. It is believed that the spirit of the Emperor is immutable, and
passes from the dying Emperor to his successor. (credits: )
Music: Japanese military
song Sakura (see lyrics above)(credit: unknown)
--Load time: ~22 sec.
visiting
Image:
After the defeat Hirohito
had claimed he was not a god, but a mortal, a mere man. He changed out
of his military uniform and into civilian clothing, and replaced his
stern, unsmiling, god-like image with that of a humble, smiling
grandfather figure. He and his wife Nagako set off on a unprecedented
tour to visit the Japanese people in cities and villages, to meet them
face to face, to shake their hands. After the initial shock of
hearing Hirohito claim he was not a god, many Japanese readily accepted
his new image and continued to venerate him, formally bowing to him
as they had always done. He now returned their bows. Until his death,
some Japanese remained vocal critics of Emperor and continued to point
out his responsibility for Japan's defeat and for brutal war crimes
committed in his name.
Sound: A Universal News Reel story from the
U.S. (1946) cheerfully describes that Hirohito is now "very much
a man". The background music you hear is characteristic of soundtracks
composed to accompany U.S. newsreels, anti-Japanese propoganda, and
instuctional films for the armed forces. (credit: National Archives,
USA)
--Load time: ~6 sec.
heavy
as a mountain
Image:
Long before WWII Japan had already established
herself as enterprising, industrializing nation. Most of this feverish
work was undertaken in the name of the Emperor, and took on an ominous
twist as Japan armed herself for the war. This tradition of industrialization
and technology was quickly revived in post-war Japan, where industriousness
and a supply of consumable goods insured "the future". Post-war
Japanese transferred loyalties once reserved for the Emperor to the
"paternal" workplace where the worker was taken care of in
return for his or her loyalties. Family fathers commuted by train into
the cities, and after working a full day, were expected to network and
socialize with colleagues and clients far into the evening, before boarding
the train for the suburbs (photo credit: Joel Sackett).
Sound:
video arcade with samurai warrior game
(credit: lef, 1999) --Load
time: 17 sec.
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