How to deal with the emperor: the International military tribunal: May 1946-Nov.1948

Total class A war criminals: 28; total executed: 7. With 11 justices, and lasting for 31 months. Verdict: decided by majority judgment. Classification of war criminals: A: political criminals: those who used war as an instrument of national policy; B: Crimes against humanity; C: planning, ordering, authorization, or failure to prevent such transgressions at higher levels in the command structure. I. Views from all sides: The emperor did not want to see a national trial of war criminals. The Japanese cabinet wanted to hold an independent trial. The American occupational forces wanted to get the trial done quickly. The Japanese side's attempt to "save" their emperor could be seen from the Japanese government's attempt to censor a picture of MacArthur and emperor (emperor shorter, smiling, so the Japanese government initially wanted to ban the picture). II. Decision on the emperor: view of Ambassador Joseph Grew to Japan: organ theory: emperor being the head. View of Douglas MacArthur: need for continuity in a time of change. There was ample ground for Hirohito's abdication. These advocates included his brother, Prince Takamatsu, prominent intellectuals, soldiers, close advisers, Judge Webb and Bernard of France. III. Different responses to the war trial: Mixed responses of the judges (e.g. the Indian judge). Charge of the Japanese conservatives: victor's justice that failed to evaluate American action in Japan. IV Comparisons of Tokyo and Nuremberg Nuremberg trials were conducted by four justices; all proceedings were made public. Tokyo proceedings never publicized. In the Nuremberg trials the “crime against humanity” term was coined. In Tokyo, this was extended to refer to indirect participation in crimes against humanity. Furthermore, the law was retroactive as it did not exist before 1945. V Absence of emperor Emperor’s physical absence during trial, careful exclusion of any evidence against him, and the absence of testimony by him VI. Reverse action after 1947: American decision to curb labor activities "Red purge" in 1950 Re-allowing the zaibatsu. Large national police reserve Sept.1951, San Francisco Peace Treaty, which officially ended the occupation. 1951, U.S.-Japan security treaty. VII Evaluating the war trial: Positive aspects: revelation of a lot of facts of aggression. Negative aspects: Dropping charges of chemical warfare; Granting immunity from prosecution to war criminals. Limiting those prosecuted after 1947. Judgment on the war more along naturalistic than moral lines (it just happened). TheTokyo trial failed to fully account for Japan’s responsibility for war. The incompleteness of the trial led to the later enshrinement of the dead soldiers, including General Tojo, in the Yasukuni Shrine, and visits there by prime ministers. It made possible the revisions of Japanese textbooks on invasion of China and the denial of the Nanjing massacre. VIII The American occupation and postwar Japanese politics After the American occupation, Japan maintained external acceptance of war responsibility and internal denial. Conservatives attempted to restore the power of the emperor in order to deal with social conflicts. There were no official apologies to Asia’s victims of the Japanese war by Hirohito. But, there was also growing democratization: The militancy of the trade unions, Communist Party, and Socialist Party. The Liberal and Democratic Parties merged (LDP, 1955) to counter communism. Japanese veterans’ denunciation of the war. And liberals' fight against the LDP’s attempt to revise the constitution (re: emperor and armament). Public dissent of the emperor’s military briefings, and fight against official protection of Yasukuni shrine. With the growth of democratic politics, the right wing has also been politically active. Enshrining the war dead in 1958 Reinstituting the “imperial time” (year of emperor's reign, e.g. 2003, year 15 of Emperor Heisei (Akihito)).