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Old 04-12-2007, 03:17 AM   #1
Talon87
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
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The Showa Emperor

I have a presentation on the Showa Emperor, Hirohito, to give tomorrow in Jpns363. He was a remarkable man in many ways; tomorrow's point of interest is that he accommodated his speech in order to foster a sense of common identity with the people. (A good, short metaphor would be if the Dean of Students at Harvard referred to himself and his audience of college students as "dudes like us." A little inaccurate, but it will suffice.)

I watched a video on Emperor Hirohito's life tonight, and I couldn't help but be haunted by his 1940 meeting with Hitler and Mussolini in which the Tripartide was officially formed. It struck me as remarkable (in an eerie way) that while Hitler and Mussolini were condemned men that would have been executed by the Allied forces if not for certain circumstances, Emperor Hirohito was granted a very special privilege. He was not only allowed to continue to live (despite his likely involvement with the War in the Pacific theatre), but he was allowed to continue to be a figurehead analogous to the Queen of England. He was welcomed by foreign nations all over the world. He laughed and smiled in public. He had hobbies -- studying hydrozoa, for instance. He delivered the opening speech at the 1964 World Olympics.

And all of this, in spite of his involvement in the War! I couldn't help but keep imagining how surreal it would be to watch "Grandpa Hitler" taking a stroll in his garden outside Berlin; to see small children tottering up to him and him hoisting them high into the air with a loving, grandfatherly smile on his face; to see him go to climb a mountain in the Alps and call out to Eva, "Darling! Come here, quickly! Lillies!" Hirohito did all these things and more.

And I noticed that I, too, could not help but to see Hirohito in this manner. I didn't suspect, I suddenly knew that the Japanese viewed this man as their surrogate Grandpa. That every Japanese person who lived under his later rule thought of the Showa Emperor as "Grampa Hiro." Lovable, kind, gentle Grampa Hiro.

Do people change so easily? That's one question I have.

Is history's picture of Hitler a little too inhumane, i.e. have we forgotten that alongside all of the horrible, monstrous things he did he might also have laughed at Abbott & Costello, cooed at gurgling babies, and held fireside chats with foreign dignitaries? This is another question I have.

If Hitler had not been presumed dead after the War -- if he had been captured by the Allied forces -- I have no doubt that he would have been executed. But I wonder -- oh, how I wonder! -- what it would be like if he had been captured alive and permitted to live out the rest of his days as Germany's "lovable Grampa Adolf" who served as a Chancellor in name only; who broke wine bottles on the hulls of newly-christened ships and held holiday TV specials to wish the nation of Germany a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hannukah.

The Japanese have arguably been "choked out of" believing many things they used to believe. They lost their military. They lost their Divine Leader. They lost the ability to relate to the heroes of their long militarily-defined history. Dying are the days of celebrated suicide. Everywhere you look in Japan you see English signs advertising for American movies or restaurants. A Japanese Nationalist would have a very strong case for the argument that "Japan hardly knows herself anymore." Yet I find it remarkable that there is one thing Japan was allowed to hold on to that Germany was not: her Fßhrer.

It's so, so curious. I can only imagine what Hirohito made of it all.
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