Emperor+Hirohito+(So+Hyeon,+Nicholas)

**Who was Hirohito?**  Hirohito was born on the 29th of April 1901 in Tokyo, Japan and was the first child of crown prince Yoshihito who gained power in 1912 after the passing of his father Emperor Meiji. Growing up, Hirohito was tutored by the former Prime Minister Kimmochi Saionju, he gained interest for marine biology and natural  science. After the death of his father in 1926, Hirohito gained the throne and became the 124th emperor of Japan. Four years after gaining power, Emperor Showa (Hirohito’s Japanese name) reluctantly supported the invasion of Manchuria in 1937.Although Hirohito did not orchestrate the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 he approved it causing the United states and the England to declare war on Japan. Source: NotableBibliographys

  <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">**What did he want for his country:**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">Japan suffered from poverty just like many other countries because of the great depression. Hirohito wanted the economic riches of Southeast Asia and to create an economic powerhouse, by attacking China and Korea he sought to achieve these goals. He also wanted military rule where they would “maintain strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interest.” Hirohito wished to remain sovereign (having a supreme ruler) and did not want Japan to become controlled by the global financial empire that had swallowed up so many other nations.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">**Hirohito's government/how did he gain support?**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">Parliamentary government- The leader of the political party with the most Members of Parliament in the House of Commons (Peers) is asked by the Monarch to become Prime Minister and to form a Government that will manage the country.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">Japan needed to sell goods abroad in order to buy food and to buy raw materials for manufacturing. Between 1929 and 1931, decline in sales to the United States brought decline to two of Japan's rural enterprises: its silk industry and rice growing. Japan's rice farmers and much of the nation suffered.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center;">Rural people, nearly two-thirds of Japan's population tended to look with disdain upon the ways of city people, including the popularity of democracy. They agreed with the call from patriotic societies for "national reconstruction," military strength and reverence for authority. They tended to dislike foreigners, especially Westerners. And some among them dreamed of Japan creating a new order in all of Asia.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">The Rightists held a traditional view of their emperor, Hirohito. They believed he was a god, while Hirohito remained at odds with their attitudes about Japan's future. Emperor Hirohito - who had ascended the throne in 1926 at the age of twenty-five - favored peace and cooperation with foreign powers. Supporting the emperor in this was the political party in power, the Democratic (Minseito) Party.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">In December 1931, the nervous Wakatsuki had resigned as Japan's prime minister - his Democratic Party largely discredited by its lack of enthusiastic support for the military. Rising in popularity and forming a new government was the Constitution (Seiyukai) Party, a party with roots in rural areas, a party that favored cooperation with the military. Japan's army officers were aware of their emperor's unhappiness with their aggressiveness, and they, in turn, were dissatisfied with their emperor. Some of them called Hirohito a mediocre sovereign and complained that he spent too much time playing mahjong instead of attending to his duties while the army was fighting a sacred war. But, exercising humanity's capacity for rationalization, they maintained their devotion to the emperor as an abstract ideal and as a god.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">The Constitution (Seiyukai) Party withdrew from power, and Emperor Hirohito requested a government that would oppose fascism, uphold the constitution and work for peace. Rather than form a government from the political parties in parliament, the emperor accepted a recommendation that he make a retired admiral, Makoto Saito, head of a new government. Saito's new government claimed to be non-partisan and a national unity coalition, but it was dominated by military men. Parliamentary government by political parties had come to an end.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">Source: Allexperts

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">**Books written about Hirohito:** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">
 * **Hirohito and the making of modern Japan by Herbert P. Bix**


 * **Emperor Hirohito and Showa Japan: A Political Biography by Stephen S. Large.**

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;">
 * **<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Hirohito and His Times: A Japanese Perspective by Toshiaki Kawahara. **
 * **<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Japan's Imperial Conspiracy: How Emperor Hirohito Led Japan into War against the West by David Bergamini. **


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center;">More sources: **

> > > > > media type="youtube" key="9avctCl8-RY" height="315" width="420" align="center" **A five part documentary about Hirohito's life. (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5)** >
 * [] - An 18 part reading about Japan and why they attacked Pearl Harbour.
 * [] - More information about Hirohito (DISCLAIMER: Informaiton may not be accurate!)
 * [] - Even More information about Hirohito.

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