Source 1: Gluck, Carol, and Stephen R. Graubard. “Showa: The Japan of Hirohito.” New York: W. W. Norton, 1992.
This book is an anthology of essays by premier historians of Japanese history. Several essays provide relevant information about Hirohito and his place in society before and after the fall of the Empire of Japan. It outlines the different eras of Hirohito and his shifting relationship with the people of Japan. Furthermore, an extensive section by Carol Gluck on the idea of Showa provides important context and understanding of Hirohito for my paper.
This book is highly trustworthy, as the writers in the anthology are leaders in their fields. In particular, Carol Gluck is regarded as one of the top historians of Japan, and her 26 page section is primarily where I will focus my research for the project.
In the first essay, Gluck splits Hirohito’s relationship into three sections: Half-Light of Early Showa, Severed History and “the Long Postwar,” and The Reemergence of Showa. These three sections should help me split up and structure my research to make my response to my project question more dynamic. In addition, the general information about Showa in the book will provide a solid backbone of information for my project.
Source 2: Irokawa, Daikichi. “The Age of Hirohito: In Search of Modern Japan.” New York: Free Press, 1995.
The Age of Hirohito outlines in depth Hirohito’s rule, splitting the book into five sections: War and Peace, The Lifestyle Revolution, The Emperor and the People, The Symbolic Emperor, and Facing the Twenty-First Century. The book is highly informative, but it also analyzes information to an extent that many other books do not.
Irokawa, uses numerous sources and includes quotes that allow me to see how he comes to his conclusions. Furthermore, Carol Gluck, who writes a foreword for the book, praises Irokawa’s work. The translators of the book from Japanese, Mikiso Hane and John Urda are both highly regarded historians. An article in the New York Times by Frank Gibney states, “If I had to recommend a single recent book that could explain the fascinating, if often disturbing, complexity of modern Japan, [The Age of Hirohito] would be it.” Finally, its contents include many excerpts, quotes, and poems from the period, allowing me to personally analyse the events and come to my own conclusions.
I have learned a lot about Hirohito and his role in modern Japan. Above all else, the section on The Symbolic Emperor reveals Hirohito’s position in the public eye after his renunciation of divinity, a period much harder to find information about. As my project focuses on Hirohito’s influence in modern Japan and today, this book has and will continue to prove incredibly informative and essential to my process.
Source 3: Bix, Herbert P. “Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan.” New York: HarperCollins, 2000.
Bix’s book is highly revealing, giving information on a vast array of topics surrounding Hirohito during his lifetime. It focuses mainly on his life before the end of the war, but the final section on the legacy of Showa should be more than enough for my project.
This book is without a doubt the premier resource in English on the life and influence of Emperor Hirohito. The book has been praised by numerous sources including the New York Times, and it received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 2001.
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan has proved useful for my project, and its structure as a more traditionally information-based, rather than argumentative, resource is very helpful. Chapter 17: The Quiet Years and the Legacies of the Showa has been very interesting, and the massive amount of facts and references provide an effective tool to support my arguments in my project.
Source 4: Tibesar, L. H. “Hirohito—Man, Emperor, ‘Divinity.’” The Review of Politics 7, no. 4 (October 01, 1945): 496–504.
The article’s focus on Hirohito’s divinity is essential to my essay, and it allows for a Western, contemporary perspective of the Emperor after he has just renounced his divinity.
Tibesar’s article in The Review of Politics from late 1945 gives a contemporary reaction to Hirohito and shows how people perceived him at the time. It has been cited on several occasions by several reputable books and articles.
The article explores Showa’s divinity extensively, providing important information that I will absolutely use when I explore his renunciation of divinity and his place with his people. One highly interesting quote by Hirohito’s childhood tutor states, "I wish I were free to tell you what the Emperor thinks of his own divinity. You would find it highly interesting.” Such quotes provide a window into the Emperor’s life that are otherwise off-limits. Furthermore, the document reveals significant information about how his people perceived divinity, and I will use this document for my project.
Source 5: Yoshie, Hotta. "The Showa Emperor’s Tour of Tokyo, March 18, 1945." Asia-Pacific Journal, 7th ser., 14, no. 21 (November 1, 2016).
Yoshie’s first-hand account of the Emperor’s visit to Fukagawa, Tokyo, after a firebombing is a useful resource which details the reactions of people at the site. In the piece, the people there offer to commit suicide for not containing the fire or dying in its flames. This piece shows how people viewed Showa when he was considered a divine entity.
Yoshie is a highly respected author, receiving the Akutagawa Prize, the most prestigious literary award in Japan. Since the piece is an account of an event, it has bias, but I believe that the bias does not cloud the facts of the encounter. While the piece certainly rejects people’s reverence of the Emperor, I believe that such a narrative might balance the opposite side that so many contemporary pieces offer. Therefore, I deem it valuable and worth using for my project.
This resource is both incredibly interesting and highly informative for an account. The event it recounts is during a transformative period of Hirohito’s reign, close to the end of his time as a divine figure. The accompanying paintings and photos of the event provide details of the encounter, and I may end up analysing one of them in a supplementary page of the website.
Source 6: “The Sun.” Directed by Aleksandr Sokurov. Lorber Films, 2005.
This critically acclaimed biographical film about the life of Emperor Hirohito reveals a personal side to the figure. Although it can not be taken as truth, many important facets of the figure are explored.
The Sun is historically accurate, but its portrayal of Hirohito’s perspective is not necessarily true, as little information exists about his views. However, the film is lauded universally as a landmark in modern cinema, including receiving the Nika Award for Best Screenplay.
There are several points in the film, such as Hirohito’s soliloquy when writing the Jewel Voice Broadcast, that can be explored in one of my supplementary pages. I believe that expanding on the themes of the film would provide a unique, interesting, but relevant addition to my project.
Additional Sources:
Advameg, Inc. "Biography of Emperor Hirohito." Notable Biographies. Accessed December 13, 2016. http://www.notablebiographies.com/He-Ho/Hirohito.html.
Coleman, Joseph. Joseph Coleman to Common Dreams newsgroup, "1945 Tokyo Firebombing Left Legacy of Terror, Pain," March 10, 2005. Accessed November 30, 2016. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0310-08.htm.
Curtis, Gerald L. "The Emperor after the Second World War." Interview. The Government of Modern Japan: The Emperor. Podcast video. Accessed November 30, 2016. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/at/jp_emperor/govtmb02.html.
Dargis, Manohla. "When Dusk Finally Settled on the Emperor." The New York Times (New York, NY), November 17, 2009, Movie Review. Accessed December 6, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/movies/18sun.html?_r=0.
Emperor Hirohito and General MacArthur. 1945. Photograph. Accessed November 17, 2016. https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/ when-macarthur-met-the-emperor/.
Emperor Is Dead. Photograph. The Japan Times. January 7, 1989. Accessed November 18, 2016. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/tag/showa-emperor/.
Letter, "Jewel Voice Broadcast," August 14, 1945. Accessed December 7, 2016. http://www.worldwarii.org/p/ jewel-voice-broadcast-was-radio.html.
Prince Hirohito of Japan at Rally. 1902. Photograph. Accessed November 17, 2016. http://ww2db.com/ photo.php?source=color=all&list=search&foreigntype=P&foreigntype_id=107.
Hirohito as a Young Man. 1940. Photograph. Accessed November 18, 2016. http://www.prisonersofeternity.co.uk/hirohito-the-emperors-new-clothes/.
Hirohito Signing Japan's Post-War Constitution. November 3, 1946. Photograph. Accessed December 5, 2016. http://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/ emperor-hirohito.
Hoberman, J. "Aleksandr Sokurov's The Sun Meditates on Hirohito." The Village Voice (New York, NY), November 17, 2009. Accessed December 6, 2016. http://www.villagevoice.com/film/ aleksandr-sokurovs-the-sun-meditates-on-hirohito-6392140.
"Japan: Showa Day." A Global World. Accessed December 6, 2016. http://aglobalworld.com/holidays-around-the-world/japan-showa-day/.
"The Jewel Voice Broadcast." Atomic Heritage Foundation. Accessed November 30, 2016. http://www.atomicheritage.org/key-documents/jewel-voice-broadcast.
Kanoh, Teruo. The Victims are Kept out of Sight. Watercolor. Tokyo, Japan. Accessed November 17, 2016. http://apjjf.org/2016/21/Hotta.html.
Moffat, Susan. "Image-Building a Goal of Japan Emperor's Visit." Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA), June 20, 1994. Accessed November 30, 2016. http://articles.latimes.com/1994-06-20/news/mn-6343_1_emperor-hirohito.
People Staff. "Once a God, and a Bitter Wartime Foe, Emperor Hirohito Is Now America’s Guest." People Magazine, October 6, 1975.
Showa Emperor at His Coronation. December 31, 1927. Photograph. Imperial Household Agency, Tokyo, Japan.
The Sun. Directed by Aleksandr Sokurov. Lorber Films, 2005.
Testimony of the Interpreter. Accessed November 17, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inE1DSH0jrk.
Tibesar, L. H. "Hirohito: Man, Emperor, 'Divinity.'" The Review of Politics by Cambridge University 7, no. 4 (October 1945): 496-504.
Yoshie, Hotta. "The Showa Emperor’s Tour of Tokyo, March 18, 1945." Asia-Pacific Journal, 7th ser., 14, no. 21 (November 1, 2016).
"The Showa Emperor’s Tour of Tokyo, March 18, 1945." In The Asia Pacific Journal. Vol. 14. Japan Focus 21. N.p.: n.p., 2016. Previously published in Meguriaishi Hitobito (People I Have Met). Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan: Shueisha Bunko, 1999. http://apjjf.org/2016/21/Hotta.html.