Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan (151 page)
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Authors: Herbert P. Bix
Tags: #General, #History, #Biography & Autobiography, #Military, #World War II
I insist that right up to the very end this was a war of self-defense and did not violate international law as understood at that time. I have never imagined, not even to this day, that as an official and an individual of a defeated nation I would be indicted by the victors and accused of being a violator of treaties and a criminal under international law because my country fought this war.
T
jthen cleverly displaced his and the emperor's responsibility for starting the war behind the very different responsibility for losing it. The defeat had occurred during the last year and a half of the war, when Tjwas out of power. On the stand he was magnanimous: “The second problem is my responsibility for the defeat as the prime minister at that time. In this sense, I not only accept my responsibility, but from the bottom of my heart I am happy to bear it.”
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Tj's performance evoked strong emotions and helped to restore his standing among those who were hostile to the tribunal and wanted to see at least one of the accused stand up as a model of loyalist behavior. Keenan's response was ineffective. The next day, however, under questioning by Kido's American defense attorney, William Logan, Tjcreated a stir by inadvertently and indirectly implicating the emperor.
Logan
: Do you remember even one example where Kido proposed something or acted against the emperor's wish for peace?
Tj: So far as I know, such an instance never arose. Not only that, no Japanese subject, let alone a high official of Japan, would ever go against the will of the emperor.
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Tj's slip, undermining the argument that Hirohito bore no responsibility for the decision to start the war, was immediately pointed out to the prosecution by tribunal president Webb. It could
not be ignored. One of Hirohito's close aides immediately sent word to Kido in Sugamo prison to get Tjto correct his error. With the help of Chief Counsel Keenan, Tjdid so the next time he took the stand, January 6, 1948. Nevertheless, more damage had been done: the prosecution's evidence and Tj's testimony had once again implicated the emperor who was not on trial.
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