Transcription
[Music] This is the story of the Tokyo trial, the International Military Tribunal that opened in May of 1946 to prosecute the Japanese leaders for war crimes. It was supposed to dot the eyes and cross the teas, just like the Nuremberg trial did for Nazi Germany. But instead, it ended up in a tangled mess. This is the story of how, why, and where it went wrong.
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Precisely at noon on August the 15th, 1945, Japan, for the first time ever, heard the voice of God. What 73 million Japanese felt at that moment is almost beyond words. All their lives, they had been told that they were a superior race, chosen by heaven to become the overlords of Asia. For years, united as one, they sacrificed daily and worked relentlessly in order to turn their motherland into a strong, strong military power. For years, they fought what they believed was a noble war for a bright, happy, peaceful, and prosperous future for all of Asia. More than that, for them, it was a holy war, a war in the name of a living God, the direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, the Divine Emperor Hirohito.
And now, for the first time ever, the Divine Ruler deigned to address his humble subjects. His dual voice, coming from radio boxes all across the empire, was solemn and full of sorrow. And people wept, first from hearing their God speak, and then from what he actually told them. Everything was in vain. The war was over. It's time to surrender. And 7 million soldiers obeyed and laid down their arms.
In the next two weeks, more than 1,000 of the Emperor's loyal subjects committed suicide. But hundreds of thousands of other military and civilian officials, instead of killing themselves, devoted their efforts to the mass destruction of incriminating evidence. For the next two weeks, bonfires all throughout Japan glowed night and day. And they weren't simply trying to save their own skins. Top-secret cables from Tokyo left nothing to chance. "All documents must be destroyed as soon as possible. Not a single sheep must be left behind. Check for papers stuck in the rear of drawers, papers inserted under the legs of desks to stabilize them, and papers behind filing cabinets and shelves as well." Anything and everything was carefully and methodically destroyed. Nothing was to be spared, not even the most sacred item of all, the one that had to be saved from a burning building or sinking ship before all other valuables: the portrait of the Emperor. Japan wasn't simply burning evidence; it was burning its past.
Two weeks after the Emperor's speech, the first wave of GIs finally made it to Japan. US Lieutenant Commander Ted Deary: "There's practically nothing left. Firebombs seem to have destroyed everything." Nothing prepared the Americans for coming face to face with the enemy they expected a country full of the primitive, bloodthirsty, monkey-like Japs they'd been told about for years. Instead, they saw people. US Ambassador to Japan, William Sebald: "The Japanese people shocked me most. They were unbelievably beaten people, momentarily despairing and hopeless. Everything that they'd been told and taught their entire lives vanished into thin air with the Emperor's speech. Not only their homes and material possessions disappeared in the wreckage of the war, but also their values, principles, traditions, and beliefs. Life as they knew it was over. There was no future, no tomorrow. No one in all of Japan seemed to know how to go on."
On the other hand, the US already had a blueprint for the conquered enemy's future, and the mandate of the quintessential American, the five-star general Douglas MacArthur, who stepped onto Japanese soil for the first time on August the 30th, 1945, was a handful. Japan had to be reoriented socially, politically, and economically. The flag that ruled Japan was no longer the Rising Sun, and the supreme authority had passed from a [ __ ] known as Hirohito to an American named [Music] [Applause] [Music] MacArthur.
But MacArthur saw his historical mission as something even greater than just becoming the new ruler of Japan. He envisioned a never-done-before, grandiose experiment of forced democratization of one country by another, for both the victors and the vanquished. This was terror incognito. But MacArthur was full of [Music] optimism. First of all, Japan was ordered to go through a process of complete demilitarization. It was to become a country without arms and a country without an army. And as US tanks spewing napalm torched Japanese airbases, incinerating brand-new planes and military factories switched from bombs to pots and pans, the great Americanization of Japan had begun.
But in order to truly turn the page and step into a beautiful democratic tomorrow, it was first necessary to deal with the past. And the trial of Japanese leaders was set for the next year. It was supposed to be quick and stern and to follow exactly in the footsteps of the trial of 24 Nazi leaders in Nuremberg. And soon, MacArthur got an order to start rounding up all possible suspects. This was to be expected and didn't surprise the Supreme Commander much. But what did was the time frame of the period under scrutiny, because the order clearly stated: "Arrest all implicated in the period of 1931 to 1945."
Prior to this, for MacArthur, the goal of the Tokyo trial had always been extremely simple: find those responsible for Pearl Harbor and hang them. But the new order complicated everything tenfold. Judge Japan for 14 years? The fact that the Japanese government traditionally operated behind a shogunate screen didn't help either. It was virtually impossible to tell who was really in charge at any particular moment. Not to mention the sheer scope of suspects, because during these 14 turbulent years, there were 16 successive government cabinets, complete with 20 foreign ministers, 15 finance ministers, 15 prime ministers, 12 war ministers, and nine navy ministers. There was only one constant at the height of power throughout the entire period: the Emperor. But for various reasons, it was decided not to touch him just yet.
But then what to do? Whom to blame? Unexpectedly, help with putting together the death list came from the Japanese elites. Tight-lipped samurai suddenly turned into gossiping sneaks. And everywhere the victors went, it was the same refrain: "Exclude the Emperor. He's innocent. Focus on General Tojo and his entourage." The once all-powerful Prime Minister and War Minister, Hideki Tojo, suddenly became everyone's favorite scapegoat. But right before GIs entered Tojo's villa to arrest him, the Japanese warlord tried to take his own life by shooting himself in the chest at an American evacuation hospital in Japan. US doctors attempt to save ill-famed Tojo with a transfusion of American blood. The volunteer is John Arnold, who, like all of us, wants Tojo to live and stand trial. The [ __ ] is regarded as one of the arch-criminals among Japan's warlords, but he'll live to answer.
On October the 16th, the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a new order to MacArthur: "Proceed immediately to assemble all available evidence of Hirohito's participation in the war." By this time, the question of what to do with the Emperor was becoming a major sore point among the Allied powers. The Australians and Soviets, in particular, were very eager to see the Emperor in the dock. So was the American public. "Judge his loyal servants and not the master, nonsense!" according to G. Public opinion polls taken at the end of the war about 70% of Americans were in favor of harshly punishing the Emperor. So why was Washington silent? Surely the new president, Harry S. Truman, had not forgotten Pearl Harbor.
Unknown to the American public as well as the world, a heated debate did indeed take place behind closed doors in Washington. But by the beginning of 1946, it was already pretty much over, thanks to a series of top-secret communications from MacArthur. "Investigation has been conducted and no evidence has been uncovered which might connect the Emperor with the political decisions during the last decade. The Emperor is a symbol which unites all Japanese. His indictment will unquestionably cause a tremendous convulsion among the Japanese people, the repercussions of which cannot be overestimated. All government agencies will break down. All hope of introducing democratic methods would disappear, and some form of intense regimentation along communistic lines would arise. The nation will disintegrate, and a vendetta for revenge will be initiated, whose cycle may well not be complete for for centuries." In short, touch the Emperor, and chaos, civil war, and a communist revolution will engulf the Land of the Rising Sun. Japan would be lost to the United States forever. MacArthur scared Washington straight, and a top-secret order flew back to Tokyo: "Take absolutely no action against the Emperor."
Meanwhile, a revolution was already underway in Japan, but not the communist revolution from below, but rather a democratic one, carefully orchestrated from above. On MacArthur's order, thousands of Japanese political prisoners, some of whom had been behind bars for up to 18 years, were released. And soon, leftist ideas started to spread all over the country. Labor unions were suddenly allowed and even encouraged. Women were given the right to vote, and the first free elections to the Japanese Parliament took place. Textbooks were being rewritten, school curriculums completely changed. The shame from defeat and unconditional surrender was slowly beginning to fade as well. Still struggling and hungry, but increasingly free, the Japanese were learning to be happy about the simple things. And the most popular song of early 1946 was about the beauty and joy of an ordinary [Music] apple.
At the same time, American pop was starting to play an increasingly dominant role. American movies, fashion, songs, and dances were everywhere. And suddenly, all Japanese people wanted a piece [Music] [Music].
The Japanese attitude towards the victors turned out to be much warmer than anyone dreamt possible. Overnight, the "white devils" magically turned into kind liberators. The image of the Japanese in the eyes of the Americans was transforming too, from a scary and bloodthirsty samurai into an exotic geisha. This sexually charged American view of Japan would linger for years to come. Times have certainly changed around Tokyo, because GI Joe is getting serious about his occupation duties, and right in front of the Emperor's Palace, too. Sometimes it's called fraternization, but Joe looks upon it as research. In short, everything was changing, even the Emperor, because now it was claimed that the supreme leader, commander-in-chief, and the embodiment of ultra-nationalism had absolutely nothing to do with aggressive policies that Imperial Japan had pursued in his name, under his authority, and with his active cooperation for almost two decades. Immense care was put into creating a new image of a peace-loving, misinformed, and helpless monarch who was duped by an evil militaristic clique.
For the first time, the entire Japanese Imperial family consents to pose for a news cameraman at their villa in Hayama. This rebranding campaign knew no bounds. The Emperor was dressed in new clothes, literally. He was made to cast aside his famous commander-in-chief uniform and put on a Western suit. He was also ordered to stop being a deity. And in his New Year Imperial decree, Hirohito officially relinquished his divine status and became immortal. And last but not least, in February of 1946, the newly sanitized, democratized, and humanized Emperor, for the first time ever, embarked on a tour of his country. Until this moment, his subjects knew their sovereign only from photographs and newsreels. But now he appeared among them, shuffling uncomfortably in his new clothes and awkwardly trying to look democratic. As one of the stunned American journalists observed: "He's short, slight, weak-chinned, and round-shouldered. His coordination is so poor that he seems constantly on the verge of toppling over. His clothes are unkempt, and his shoes scuff. His conversation consists of inanities and a high-pitched voice."
As the Emperor was touring the country, the trial was already to begin. And more than 100 of the Emperor's loyal servants languished behind bars in Japan's most notorious prison, Sugamo, as Class A war crime suspects. But contrary to usual protocol, these suspects were allowed to communicate freely, coordinating their future testimonies to protect the Emperor from any possible taint of war responsibility.
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East, more commonly known as the Tokyo Trials, took place in the former Japanese Army headquarters building, which was conveniently spared from Allied carpet bombings. In comparison to Nuremberg, Tokyo had not four but 11 justices, representing 11 nations of the world. And although all the countries ravaged by Japan were Asian, there was only one Asian judge at first, a Chinese one. After a small diplomatic scandal, at the very last moment, two more Asian judges were added: a judge from colonial Philippines, still under the heavy influence of the United States, and a judge from the British colony of India. Neither had enough time to make it to court for the first day of proceedings, though. And on May the 3rd, 1946, the court started without them.
For the nine judges present, the trial looked rather simple, probably because most of them, even before the beginning of the trial, had already made up their minds on the verdict: guilty as charged. "Together with diverse other persons, between the 1st January 1928 and the 2nd..." But who were the judges representing the nine most powerful nations of the world? The president of the tribunal, Australian Sir William F. Webb. The other eight: The Honorable Lord Patrick of Britain, Edward Stewart McDougal of Canada, Mei Jao of China, H. Bernar from France, Professor B. Röling of the Netherlands, Harvey Northcroft of New Zealand, Major General Ivan Zaryov of the Soviet Union, and John P. Higgins of the United States.
The men in the dock: 28 Japanese military officers and civilian officials. According to the enormous, cover-all indictment with 55 counts of offenses, these 28 alone bore responsibility for the past war, complete with mass murders, torture, and all the other barbaric atrocities. As the defendants gloomily listened to the seemingly never-ending indictment, one of them started to act rather bizarrely. Virtually unknown outside of Japan, Dr. Shumei Ōkawa was an evil genius, a one-man think tank, a brilliant ideologue, philosopher, extreme nationalist, and one of the most influential men in the Japan of the 1930s. But now, Ōkawa wept gently, caressed the hand of an MP behind him, and then tried to perform a striptease, which he wasn't able to finish, as he was sternly stopped from baring himself completely.
But even that was not the most bizarre moment of the opening day of the Tokyo trial. After all his bizarre antics, Ōkawa, who was seated directly behind Tojo, prayed a little, and then unexpectedly half-rose from his seat and slapped the former prime minister on the back of the [Music] head. The official US psychiatric report would be amusing to say the least, because according to it, Ōkawa felt that he was the embodiment of Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, and Jehovah all rolled into one. Quite a few judges were rather skeptical about Ōkawa's sudden onset of madness, but there was nothing they could do. On day one, Ōkawa left the courtroom, never to return.
Two weeks later, the Indian judge, Radhabinod Pal, finally made it to Tokyo. Pal was picked in such a hurry that no one in India even bothered to check his views on Japan before sending him off. If they had, they would have discovered that Japan had always been somewhat of a lighthouse, a proud Asian country that managed to stay independent throughout the centuries, unknown to the world. Now, among the judges appeared an avid admirer of Japan, who had also made up his mind on the verdict before the beginning of the trial. In Pal's eyes, all defendants were not guilty.
The prosecution's opening statement, read by Chief Prosecutor Joseph Barry Keenan on June the 4th, 1946, was ruthless. "The wars which they were planning, and for which they were preparing, and which they initiated and waged, could result in nothing else than wholesale destruction of human lives. They were determined to destroy democracy and its essential basis, freedom and the respect of human personality. They would determine that the system of government of, and by, and for the people should be eradicated, and what they turned a new order established instead." If you think about it, this was a rather absurd statement, because was there true democracy, freedom, and respect of human personality in British India, American Philippines, Dutch East Indies, or French Indochina before Japan invaded these [Music] countries? No, not really. All these nations were Western colonies to begin with, and no democracy. Furthermore, at the same time, the chief prosecutor delivered this passionate speech, the Dutch were already fighting their way back into Indonesia, their former colony, which had dared to rise up and declare independence at the end of the war. And no one at the trial saw the hypocrisy.
On June the 13th, the Filipino judge, Colonel Delfin Jovenila, finally joined his black-robed brothers. Now, for Jovenila, this trial was much more personal than for the other judges, simply because he himself had spent part of the war as a Japanese POW and had even taken part in the infamous Bataan Death March, during which thousands of Filipino and American prisoners of war died. And we do not know in any other court this could have led to his immediate disqualification. Just think about it: a judge was arguably a victim of the same people he was about to judge.
Meanwhile, the prosecution plunged into the confusing labyrinth of Japanese politics, starting with 1928. To navigate through almost two decades of murky political intrigues and shadowy power struggles of 16 government cabinets was truly a Herculean task. Also, it was all so foreign, so alien, just like the ancient Imperial Gagaku dance. The judges were unexpectedly invited to enjoy that summer. In Gagaku, every little movement carries a lot of meaning, which is crystal clear for the enlightened outsiders. On the other hand, don't have a chance to unravel it. And the judges were getting more and more confused. The American judge, Higgins, in particular, was getting restless. He tried to warn his colleagues that the trial was heading in the direction of a fiasco or even a failure, but nobody listened to him. Reportedly, Higgins got fed up and resigned. His high-ranking replacement, Major General Myron C. Cramer, would leave no significant mark on the trial.
Then the China phase of the trial began. In 1931, Japan occupied Manchuria, an area three times the size of France, complete with almost 30 million people. Six years later, a full-on war against China started, and Japanese newsreels, surprisingly set to the sound of Wagner, proudly showcased Japan's victories against its giant neighbor. [Music] La [Music].
In December of 1937, Japanese troops entered the capital of the Republic of China, Nanking. This is where one of the most horrible war atrocities of the 20th century took place. It would remain in history as the Rape of Nanking. [Music] Witness testimonies were becoming more and more terrifying. "Have you resided in China?" Especially shocking was the testimony of John Gillespie McGee. "I was a missionary of the Episcopal Church at Nanking from 1912 to 1940." In complete secrecy, Reverend McGee filmed victims of Japanese atrocities in Nanking who were lucky enough to survive and make it to the hospital, together with his meticulous notes. These 16mm films present a blood-chilling historical document. This pregnant 19-year-old girl was bayoneted when she tried to resist rape. When admitted to hospital, she had 29 wounds all over her body. It's unknown if she survived or not. This 7-year-old boy was bayoneted five times in the abdomen. He died 3 days after admission. This man was shot through the jaw, soaked in gasoline, and set on fire. He died after 2 days in the hospital. During the trial, it was estimated that between 200,000 and 300,000 men, women, and children were massacred during the 6 weeks of the Rape of Nanking by the Japanese [Music] Army. On top of that, there were approximately 20,000 cases of rape. The majority of rape victims were subsequently mutilated with relentless savagery.
Soon, the trial got around to the formation of the Axis powers, and as the details of Japan's love affair with Germany were revealed in the courtroom, news from Nuremberg came. The trial of the top Nazi leaders took 11 months. Its judgment was revolutionary. For the first time in history, a nation's political and military leaders were held personally responsible for waging war. For judges in Tokyo, this was excellent news. Now they had a legal precedent, something to lean on. Regarding torture, then the atrocities phase of the trial began with even more excruciating affidavits and testimonies. The Japanese bayoneted to death all five occupants of the house, one of whom was a three-year-old girl. The six Japanese ate the flesh from some of the bodies of their victims during the two days period that they stayed at the house. "We were treated throughout the march by the Japanese [ __ ] buy. We were beaten. The men were bayoneted, stabbed, and as the men were on fire, they were bayoneted or shot. Clubbed or stabbed. [ __ ] soldiers were yelling as if they were enjoying their test."
"We'll recess for 15 minutes." The judges found it almost incomprehensible to connect what they were hearing inside the courtroom with the people among whom they themselves were now living: decent, absolutely normal, and even likable people. So how could the same people have done all these horrible and unimaginable things? Just a year ago. Meanwhile, Christmas came to Tokyo, and then a new year, 1947. Japan continued to [Music] change. So did the rest of the world. Post-war euphoria was rapidly evaporating. The victorious allies were starting to drift apart. The impetuous descent into the abyss of the Cold War was gaining momentum. Asia was in flames once again. The French war in Indochina, that would eventually take almost 700,000 lives, was escalating. The Dutch Indonesian campaign, with an ultimate death toll of 200,000, was going strong as well. A civil war between Communists and nationalists, with millions of casualties in both camps, was at full blast in China. I do.
By the beginning of 1947, everyone at the trial was weary, and there was no end in sight. The defense stage had just begun. To be honest, most of the judges weren't that interested in what the defendants or their lawyers had to say anyway. The Honorable Lord Patrick of England, for example, simply echoed the views of the British Foreign Office: "Here we have a predominantly Western tribunal sitting in the Far East to try Japanese war criminals. If the tribunal fails to fulfill its task, Western justice will become the laughing stock of the Far East."
Exactly a year had passed since the Tokyo trial held its first session, and symbolically, on this very day, May 3rd, 1947, a new Japanese Constitution came into effect. A brand-new Japanese Constitution, which was pretty much ghostwritten by the Americans. Even the accompanying booklet explaining the details of the new constitution in colorful and easy-to-understand pictures looked very much like an American comic book. No nation in the world had ever rested on a constitution so fundamentally foreign, or on such a bizarre cocktail of monarchism, democratic idealism, and pacifism. In fact, the whole constitution was based on a single page, three-point memo penned by none other than MacArthur himself: "1. Emperor is at the head of the state, his succession is dynastic. 2. War as a sovereign right of the nation is abolished. No Japanese Army, Navy, or Air Force will ever be authorized. 3. The feudal system of Japan will cease."
By this time, back in the courtroom, Pearl Harbor, the key issue of the trial for the Americans, was the main topic of discussions once again. And the Emperor's loyal subjects, instead of defending themselves, continued to exonerate their ruler by blurring dates, places, and responsibilities. One affidavit even stated that the Emperor was so apolitical and out of the loop that he learned about the Pearl Harbor attack only post factum. But it's impossible to cover all the tracks. And an Imperial conference transcript resurfaced, which clearly stated that on November the 30th, 1941, four days after the Imperial Fleet set sail for Pearl Harbor, the Emperor had a meeting with Tojo at which the Pearl Harbor issue was discussed. After learning this, Webb asked a simple and logical question: "So, does that mean then that the Emperor directed the attack to be carried out?" The courtroom froze. This wasn't in the script. But then, lawyer William Logan rushed up to the lectern to protect the Japanese Emperor, who, by the way, wasn't even one of his clients. "But the Emperor was following constitutional government. If a cabinet advises a king to commit a crime, and the King directs that a crime be committed, there is no constitutional protection. But if the cabinet advised the Emperor, I assume that you're going to suggest right now that in that case, the king can do no wrong under the Constitution?" "Yes, if the cabinet advises the Emperor that it is necessary for the country to go to war for self-preservation and self-defense. Self-defense is a good defense to any crime. They didn't want to go to war, Your Honor. They were driven to it."
In September of 1947, the accused finally took the stand. But contrary to any possible expectations, there would be no amazing revelations. Even the Emperor's personal advisor and confidant, Koichi Kido, who knew the Emperor's full complicity in the war down to the last detail, continued the official trial line: "The Emperor didn't have anything to do with the war. The militarists are to blame for everything. The cabinet decided to go to war, and the Emperor didn't have any choice but to agree." Prosecutor Keenan, who knew perfectly well the true objective of the trial, personally led the cross-examination, and he wasn't about to leave anything to chance, even if it meant literally putting words into Kido's mouth. "Short of it is that Japan was getting ready to make up its mind whether or not it was going to war with the United States and Great Britain and the Netherlands. That was the purpose of that Imperial conference in September, wasn't it?" "So, yes." "Now, did the Emperor of Japan have anything really, really have anything to do with that decision reached at the Imperial conference that you just [Applause] [Music] described?" "The Emperor thought it was a very bad thing when prior told him of this." "No, what I'm asking you is this: Was that decision of that Imperial conference really, in reality, the decision of the Emperor of Japan, or merely a formal acquiescence on his part to something that had been decided by others?" "In plain language, yes." "So now you're telling us in your affidavit that..."
Soon, Webb, who could no longer stand this farce, interrupted the chief prosecutor and demanded he stop putting words into the defendant's mouth. By this time, one thing was already clear to almost everyone closely involved in the trial: no matter how hard the accused, some of the defense, and most of the prosecution tried, there was still something not right with the image of the Emperor as the apolitical, pacifist, and marine-life-loving figurehead. There was just something fishy about it. Webb could no longer ignore the elephant in the room, or for that matter, hide his belief that the Emperor belonged in court, if not as an accused, then at least as a witness. But Webb's hands were tied. He, just like Keenan, had been forced to promise he would keep his hands off the Emperor, no matter what. But as the saying goes, some promises are meant to be broken. "Please proceed, Mr. Witness, with your full explanation."
Meanwhile, one more little detail came up, which made it even harder for anyone closely involved to believe that the peace-loving Emperor was a fierce opponent of Pearl Harbor. During the cross-examination of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shigeru Tōgō, it was accidentally revealed that on the very day of the Pearl Harbor attack, Tōgō was urgently summoned for a meeting with the Emperor. At this meeting, which took place at the Imperial Palace at 3:00 in the morning, Hirohito was dressed in full naval dress uniform. The image of the Emperor proudly wearing his full naval dress uniform, the same day his Navy starts an undeclared war against the United States and Britain, didn't quite fit with the image of a peace-loving and grief-stricken sovereign.
December the 26th, 1947, was a big day at the Tokyo trial. Finally, it was Tojo's turn. Interest in the trial peaked once again, and masses of Japanese showed up extra early that day for their three-day passes. But not all of them would get in. There were just too many of them, and the Japanese could only sit in a specific section of the courtroom, even if there were empty seats elsewhere, for example, in the section where MacArthur's wife and son sat. They too came to see the arch-villain who, according to the prosecution, almost single-handedly plunged Japan into war. Rules. Tojo's wife and children were in attendance as well. Before the cross-examination, defense attorney Blitt read Tojo's mammoth, 250-page-long affidavit. "There has never existed a so-called militaristic clique. Such an allegation is a fallacy of the highest degree. America and Britain adopted a policy of strangulation against Japan to provoke and force Japan into this war. Allies needed this in order to be able to involve America into the European conflict. For Japan, it was a war of self-defense, and there was no alternative." Tojo didn't forget about the Emperor in his affidavit as well. "The Emperor had no free choice, and the war was absolutely not the responsibility of the Emperor. I am, on the other hand, not only willing but sincerely desire to accept the full responsibility for this war."
Time flies. It was already the second New Year's Eve of the Tokyo trial, and just another day of Tojo's cross-examination. Everyone was already exhausted. After it had been 20 months, everybody, even Tojo, he was tired from non-stop questioning and was even starting to lose his usual sharpness. And when asked a simple question if he knew of any instances when Kido acted or gave advice contrary to the Emperor's wishes for peace, Tojo slipped: "I do not know of any such instances, simply because there were none. I do not see how a subject of the Emperor, even among the country's highest authorities, could have gone against the will of His Majesty." The Emperor had consented to the war. None of us would dare act against the Emperor's [Music] will. For the first time, a simple and rather obvious thing was said out loud: the Emperor had authority and power. That also meant that he could have stopped the war at any time, or even not have started it at all.
The day quickly wrapped up, and there was a good excuse: it was New Year's Eve, after all. Webb was overjoyed. Tojo's slip was an unexpected late Christmas gift to him. He'd finally heard what he was waiting for. That very day, Webb wrote to General MacArthur requesting permission to bring the Emperor in for questioning. But instead of answering Webb, MacArthur urgently summoned Keenan. At the meeting, the Supreme Commander ordered the chief prosecutor to fix this mess pronto. And Keenan launched a storm of activity. Through three different Japanese intermediaries, Tojo was carefully and thoroughly instructed on how to recant his incriminating remark. And the chance to do so was soon presented to him by Keenan during the continuation of the cross-examination. "I want to, I think it's a good time, Mr. Tojo, to change his subject. And after this rather awkward intro, Keenan went for it. I want to ask you a few questions on the relative positions of yourself and the Emperor of Japan on the matter of waging war. You have told us that the Emperor on repeated occasions made known to you that he was a man of peace and did not want war. Is that correct?" Tojo agreed. "Well, you did make war against the United States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands, did you not?" Tojo agreed again. And then Keenan put to Tojo the million-dollar question: "Was that the will of the Emperor Hirohito that war should be instituted?" "No, it might have been against the Emperor's will. The Emperor consented to the war reluctantly and only after a great deal of hesitation. The Emperor's love and desire for peace remain the same even during the war. The Emperor's feelings in this regard can be clearly ascertained from the Imperial rescript declaring war, as it contains the words, 'This war is indeed unavoidable and is against my own desires.'" Now, to be honest, this wasn't the best explanation or bulletproof proof of the Emperor's innocence. Tojo could have done better, but it was good enough for Keenan. But not good enough for Webb, who was determined to continue his crusade.
The next day, though, Webb was summoned by MacArthur. At their meeting, the General was blunt: "Forget it. The Emperor will never, ever appear in the courtroom, even as a witness. End of [Music] discussion."
And on a rainy Friday, April the 16th, 1948, almost two years after the Tokyo trial began, as photographers and cameramen swarmed the courtroom to film and photograph the defendants, wondering about their fate, everyone else involved exhaled. Even Webb, in a private letter, wrote: "We expect to be a month or so on our deliberations, the same as Nuremberg." 1, 2, 3, 4. But nothing in Tokyo was the same as Nuremberg. And the courtroom would stay empty for another 7 months as the international panel of judges struggled and quarreled. By the summer of 1948, it was already clear that Japan's wartime wounds were healing well. Step by step, Japan was becoming a different country altogether. Public interest in the trial slowly waned. After all, this trial dealt with issues no longer relevant in the new Americanized Japan.
And on November the 12th, 1948, it all came to an end. After 818 court sessions, 419 witness testimonies, 779 affidavits, 4,336 exhibits, 2 years, 6 months, and 15 days after its first session, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East crawled to the finish line. The enormous final judgment took 5 days just to read. Its gist was simple, though: since 1928, Japan was in the hands of a military clique that had conspired to launch a succession of aggressive wars. Between 1931 and 1945, there was a common pattern of atrocities and cruelties of the most inhumane and barbarous character in all theaters of war, which leads to only one possible conclusion: the atrocities were either secretly ordered or willfully permitted by the Japanese government and military. The accused are found guilty for the actions of the state. To no one's surprise, the Emperor's complicity in the war was never addressed.
"The International Military East is now reserved in accordance with article 15h of the charter. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East will now pronounce the sentences on the accused convicted on this indictment." And then, one by one, the defendants were led out to hear their fate proclaimed by Webb. "Accused Hinuma Kiro, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East sentences you to imprisonment for life." 16 got life in prison. Two got slightly lighter sentences. "Sentences you to death by hanging." Death by hanging. Death by hanging. And seven, including five generals, one civilian former Premier Kōki Hirota, and obviously Tojo, were sentenced to death by hanging.
Now, and just like that, the seemingly never-ending trial came to an end. There was no fanfare. It didn't even feel like a closure. It just fizzled out. There was talk about five separate opinions, though, but not one of them was ever read in court. The Indian judge, Justice Pal's enormous, 1,235-page-long dissenting opinion, can be summed up in a single sentence: "Whatever the accused did, they did out of patriotic motives and in order to change the colonial status quo." And this was a good enough excuse for Pal. His verdict: not guilty. All of them. More than that, Japan is not guilty too.
Webb wrote that the tribunal was greatly compromised by the absence of the Emperor and the careful exclusion of any references to him. Webb was furious that the leader of the crime had been granted immunity. French judge Henri Bernard echoed Webb: "It cannot be denied that Japan's crimes had a principal author who escaped all prosecution, and of whom the defendants could only be considered as [Music] accomplices." But as any law scholar knows, the beauty of dissenting opinions is that they don't change a thing. And at the stroke of midnight, December the 23rd, 1948, the Sugamo Seven were hanged. Immediately after the execution, the bodies were loaded onto an American army truck and taken to the Yokohama crematorium, where they were [Music] burnt.
The very next day, on Christmas Eve, American authorities announced amnesty for all Class A war criminal suspects still held in Sugamo prison, and they were promptly released. A week later, Shumei Ōkawa, whose midsummer madness miraculously and suddenly disappeared, was declared mentally fit and quietly discharged from the hospital. And then things got even more interesting. Obsessed with the fear that Japan was turning red, the Americans started to jettison many of the democratization ideals that they themselves so passionately introduced and induced just a few years earlier. First, there was a strong crackdown on Communists, then on labor unions, then on freedom of speech. At the same time, charges against prominent Japanese were dropping like flies. All Class A war criminals sentenced by the Tokyo trial to life in prison were also miraculously pardoned one after another within just a few short years. For many Japanese, this would become the ultimate proof that the Tokyo trial had been nothing but a hypocritical farce. "Japan is not guilty." Then, despite the protests of a younger generation of Japanese, Washington slowly started cozying up to the conservative old guard of Japan. And this would culminate in the case of a member of Tojo's cabinet who spent a few years in the Sugamo prison as a Class A war crime suspect himself: Nobusuke Kishi. After his release from Sugamo, Kishi, like all the others pardoned, was prohibited from ever holding public office again. But a few years down the road, embraced and groomed by the US Embassy in Tokyo, Kishi became Japan's new premier. [Music]
The much-vaunted permanent demilitarization of Japan ended even earlier. In June of 1950, when civil war erupted in Korea, the very day hostilities broke out, the decision to rearm Japan was taken in Washington. And thanks to multi-billion orders of special procurements for American forces fighting in Korea, the Japanese economy, in just a few short years, rose like a phoenix.
Our film is almost over, but a crucial question is still left unanswered. So, why did Washington go to such lengths to save the Japanese Emperor? Especially because if one digs just a little deeper, it would turn out that all those prophecies of apocalypse and Armageddon if Japan were to lose her beloved figurehead were based on pretty much thin air. Here's an excerpt from a top-secret American report dated mid-December 1945: "The Allies are unduly apprehensive of the effect on the Japanese if the Emperor was removed. At the most, there might be demonstrations, but they would pass. Japanese people now are more concerned with food and housing problems than with the fate of the Emperor." Japanese public opinion polls confirm this, as they show that only 16% of Japanese wanted to keep their Godlike ruler status unchanged. In other words, the Japanese were ready for a change. It was the Americans who weren't, of course. Washington knew all along that the Emperor didn't quite fit the picture of innocence they created for him. But they also knew that Japan was destined to play a critical role in the post-war balance of power, and they saw the Emperor, first and foremost, as a tool which would help transform Japan from a former enemy into a submissive Cold War partner. And they turned out to be absolutely right.
But what was the price? This campaign to exonerate the Emperor played a very cruel trick on the mind of the nation because millions of Japanese, guilty of their own wartime sins, started to ponder: "If even the Emperor got away with everything, then why should we, his humble subjects?" Reflect and dwell on our past. And with time, Japan's past started to slowly fade from the memory of the nation. And the way that war is often remembered in Japan today sometimes has little to do with history or truth. Because once again, that war is remembered as a noble war, the war where heroes fought and died for the glory of the Empire and the Emperor. [Music]