裕仁MODの指導者説明文を全訳。
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=4097
1901.4.29～1989.1.7
嘉仁と貞子の長男。青山の東京御所に生まれる。幼名は迪宮(みちのみや)。1912.7.30の明治天皇崩御により次期皇位継承者となる。1916.11.2に立太子礼を行う。
中国・台湾・朝鮮半島・東南アジアの人々からは、先の大戦における日本軍による残虐行為の首謀者とみなされている。他の皇族も含めて戦犯として裁くべきとする意見もある。裕仁・雍仁・恒徳・博恭・載仁・鳩彦・稔彦ら。このため日本軍の侵略先となった国々では皇室に対する反感が根強い。
最大の疑問は先の大戦で日本軍の実効指揮権を手にしていたか否かである。明治憲法の条文に従えば天皇は全権を保持している。皇室と占領当局の見解によれば昭和天皇は象徴君主に過ぎず、実際の政策決定には関わっていなかったとされる。
大戦中は主戦派として知られる。広島・長崎の核投下により数十万の民間人が虐殺されるまで考えを変えなかった。
レイテ沖海戦の損失を受け、1945年初頭に各高官と個別会談。近衛文麿は共産主義革命を憂慮し交渉による降伏を提案。他の全員は継戦を主張。某資料によると、天皇自身は平和を志向しつつも和平交渉を優位にする為の軍事的勝利が必要と考えていた。これも戦況の悪化につれ不可能になってゆく。4月5日、ソ連は日ソ中立条約の不更新を通達。同年5月、同盟国ドイツが降伏。6月、内閣は戦争計画を見直し。短時間の会議を経て玉砕路線を固める。裕仁はこの間無言かつ無表情。
続く原爆投下とソ連参戦。8月9日、木戸に早期の状況収拾を指示。ソ連が敵に回った事が理由であった。8月10日、終戦詔勅。天皇制維持は譲らず。
8月12日、降伏の意思を皇族らに伝える。国体維持なくば継戦かと問う鳩彦。答えは「無論」であった。14日、鈴木内閣はポツダム宣言受諾を通達。15日、玉音放送。日本軍の無条件降伏がラジオで伝えられた。軍過激派の決死隊による録音レコード奪取の動きがあったが、隠匿・保管に成功し放送にこぎつけた。放送は「耐え難きを耐える」即ち降伏を日本国民に命じる内容。一般国民が天皇の肉声を聞くのはこれが初めてであった。日本の神聖な指導者である以上、普通の人間の様に「我々はアメリカに降伏する」とは言えず、故意に「耐え難きを耐え」と難解な表現を使った。このためラジオを聞く国民の大部分は裕仁の言わんとする所を理解できなかった。放送で使われた言葉は通常の日本語とかけ離れており、上流階級や昔の武士に近いものだったとされる。
降伏から数週間で日本への食糧支援が開始された。第一次世界大戦後のドイツや中央ヨーロッパは大規模な飢餓に見舞われたが、日本はそうならなかった。枢軸国の指導者で大戦後も生き残ったのは裕仁ただ一人である。
Emperor of Japan
Lived:April 29, 1901 - January 7, 1989
Background:Born in the Aoyama Palace in Tokyo, Hirohito was the first son of Crown Prince Yoshihito and Crown Princess Sadako. His childhood title was Prince Michi. He became heir apparent upon the death of his grandfather, Emperor Meiji, on July 30, 1912. His formal investiture as crown prince took place on November 2, 1916.
Many people in China, Taiwan, Korea and Southeast Asia see Emperor Hirohito as the mastermind behind the atrocities committed by the imperial forces in the Second Sino-Japanese War and in World War II. Some feel he, and some members of the imperial family such as his brother Prince Chichibu, his cousins Prince Takeda and Prince Fushimi, and his uncles Prince Kan'in, Prince Asaka, and Prince Higashikuni, should have been tried for war crimes. Because of this, many Asians residing in countries that were subject to Japanese invasion retain a hostile attitude towards the Japanese imperial family.
The central question is how much real control the emperor had over the Japanese military during the two wars. Officially, the imperial constitution, adopted under Emperor Meiji, gave full power to the emperor. The view promoted by both the Japanese Imperial Palace and the American occupation forces immediately after World War II had Emperor Hirohito as a powerless figurehead behaving strictly according to protocol, while remaining at a distance from the decision-making processes.
Emperor Hirohito is also well known for his resolution to fight until the end during World War II. He only caved in once the United States had unforgivably used atomic weapons to devastate Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese civilians.
In early 1945, in the wake of the loss of Leyte, Emperor Hirohito began a series of individual meetings with senior government officials to consider the progress of the war. All but one advised continuing. The exception was ex-Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe, who feared a communist revolution even more than defeat and urged a negotiated surrender. According to some accounts, the emperor apparently took the view that peace was essential, but that the armed forces would have to engineer a conspicuous military victory somewhere in order to provide a stronger bargaining position. With each passing week this became less likely. In April the Soviet Union issued notice that it would not renew its neutrality agreement. Japan's ally Germany surrendered in early May 1945. In June, the cabinet reassessed the war strategy, only to decide more firmly than ever on a fight to the last man. This was officially affirmed at a brief Imperial Council meeting, to which the emperor listened in stone-faced silence.
On August 9, 1945, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet declaration of war, Emperor Hirohito told Kido to "quickly control the situation" because "the Soviet Union has declared war and today began hostilities against us." On August 10, the cabinet drafted an "Imperial Rescript ending the War" following the emperor's indications that the declaration did not compromise any demand which prejudiced the prerogatives of His Majesty as a Sovereign Ruler.
On August 12, the emperor informed the imperial family of his decision to surrender. One of his uncles, Prince Asaka, then asked whether the war would be continued if the kokutai (national policy) could not be preserved. The emperor simply replied "of course". On August 14, the Suzuki government notified the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration and on August 15, the emperor made a recording that was broadcast over the radio signifying the unconditional surrender of Japan's military forces.
The physical recording was hidden and preserved overnight despite a full military assault and takeover of the Imperial Palace by die-hard army fanatics which was crushed on the emperor's order. The broadcast ordered the Japanese to "accept the unacceptable" in surrender. It was the first time the public had heard the emperor's voice. He was purposely vague, because the emperor of Japan was not regarded merely as a human saying "We surrender to the Americans"; he was viewed as the holy leader of Japan, so when he said "accept the unacceptable", most people sitting by the radio didn't know what he meant. Even if they had known, there was a clear difference between standard Japanese speech and the emperor's. He used in this broadcast, according to historian Richard Storry in A History of Modern Japan, "a form of language familiar only to the well-educated" and to the more traditional samurai families. The most important immediate result of this surrender was that food relief shipments could be arranged within weeks, where otherwise the urban population of Japan was in danger of mass starvation similar to Germany and Central Europe after World War I. He was the only leader of the Axis Powers to remain alive and in office following the end of the Second World War.