Perspective on Greatness: Hirohito-The Last Banzai

The film opens with the legend of how the Emperor became known as the Son of Heaven. Then it talks about the use of the atomic bombs and how it put and end to Japanese aggression. It shows some photos of Hirohito when he was much younger and says he traveled to Europe and was the first Japanese monarch to do so.

That was 1921. The film notes that nationalists in Japan were worried Hirohito would become influenced by Western ideas. Hirohito became actual Emperor of Japan at the age of 25. He claimed Japan would never go to war during his reign.

Then it talks about cheap Japanese goods being made and how some in other countries resented that. Then it goes to the invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Hirohito condemned the guys who led the attack on Manchuria. The Army ignored the Emperor's desire for a truce and moved on to invade northern China.

The Japanese then began bombing Chinese cities The League of Nations condemned the attacks and so Japan withdrew its membership in that group. A truce in China was finally called in 1933. Some things were still kind of normal like a chorus line.

Militarists in Japan wanted to build their military. In 1937 they launched a full scale invasion of China. Children in Japan were being brought up to idolize the military. The film shows people happily sending their sons off to war. The war in China was not going as expected, though, and many Japanese soldiers were being killed.

1941 and Japan is allying itself with Hitler. The film also talks about economic sanctions against Japan put into place by the U.S. The film takes a strong position that Hirohito was ag

Japan had its own version of victory bonds. All of Japan began to back the war with women expected to pay visits to injured soldiers. The film then condenses the war, moving quickly to 1944 and the use of kamakaze pilots against the American fleet. Then it moves to the surrender of Japan and the war crimes trials. Next it moves to Hirohito after the war. The Emperor went out a lot among the people and the people developed an interest in the Imperial family like who is going to marry who, and so on.

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