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| Japan's war 'contrary to emperor's wishes': son |
| Tokio, 12.11.2009 |
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| by Miwa Suzuki Miwa Suzuki – Thu Nov 12, 5:52 am ET
TOKYO (AFP) – Japan's Emperor Akihito, celebrating 20 years on the throne Thursday, offered a rare defence of his father's wartime record, saying Japanese aggression had been contrary to his wishes.
The 75-year-old said he thought his father Hirohito had opposed Japan's march to war, an unusual comment on the emperor who at the time was considered divine by his people but seen as an aggressor by the Allied powers.
Akihito said that his father, posthumously called Emperor Showa in Japan after the name of his 1926-89 era, had as crown prince visited the site of the World War I battlefield of Verdun in France.
"He had taken to heart the importance of maintaining peace," Akihito said. "It is my perception that the events that led to war must have been contrary to what he would have wished."
The emperor has in the past talked about "difficulties" his father faced during the years when Japan took the path to war.
But the latest remark was clearer than his 2005 comment when he said "I wonder from time to time what feelings Emperor Showa harboured as he lived through the period."
Historians are divided on whether the emperor was responsible for Japan's aggression before and during World War II or whether he was the puppet of military and political leaders.
Hirohito was not tried at the Tokyo war tribunal that sentenced to death seven military and government leaders, including wartime premier Hideki Tojo.
Akihito was speaking to the media last week, but his comments were embargoed for publication until the celebration Thursday of his accession to the Chrysanthemum throne, in line with usual imperial household practice.
Akihito, who under the post-war constitution serves a largely ceremonial function and is barred from commenting on politics, said the events during his father's era "taught us many lessons."
"I believe it is essential for us to learn from the historical facts and prepare ourselves for the future," he said.
Many Asian countries still hold bitter memories of Japanese aggression and have complained that Japan has whitewashed its past in school textbooks.
Japan's centre-left Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who took power in September, has pledged stronger ties with Asia and said he and his cabinet ministers will not visit Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni war shrine.
Akihito again urged people to remember history when he spoke at the official anniversary ceremony before some 1,300 lawmakers, diplomats and other guests.
"I think it is important for the country's future not to forget the fact that today's Japan was built on the great sacrifice and to tell it correctly to people born after the war," he said.
Hatoyama said in a speech: "We will keep in mind Your Majesty's wish, learn from past history and build a Japan in which other countries can trust."
Akihito's coronation ceremony was held on November 12, 1990, after the end of the mourning period for Hirohito.
More than 9,000 people visited an imperial palace gate Thursday to enter their names in special commemorative books, the palace said.
Some 50,000 people were expected to gather for privately organised commemorative events near the moated palace in central Tokyo for performances of traditional and modern music.
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