Hirohito tells why he failed to prevent war

Press, 20 April 1981, Page 6

Hirohito tells why he failed to prevent war

NZPA Tokvos Emperor Hirohito has sa*id i that he could not prevent.' Japan, from going to war in December. 1941, because he ■ had attached so much irn- j portance to Japan’s parlia-.’ mentary system, Japanese newspapers have reported. . The newspapers said that... the Emperor revealed his thoughts about the outbreak of the Pacific -war at a luncheon last week with 15 representatives of Japan’s mass media at the imperial household agency. The newspapers quoted the Emperor as saying th?t he felt so strongly that constitutional politics had to be safeguarded that he respected the parliamentary decision, to go to war. “As a result, I could'hot prevent Japan from going to war,” he was quoted as say- . ing., .■: • ‘ Last week’s get-togethers with mass-media was |

$ held for the first time since ® 1949 for the Emperor, who ; will celebrate his eightieth a birthday on April 29. S Asked to name the most V memorable experience in his : life, the newspaper said the Emperor promptly replied that it was his trip to Europe in 1921 when he was Crown Prince, r During that trip, the Emperor said,- he ate ; a whole bar of chocolate for the first time because’ it was so delicious, and in a room in Rome he mistook a heater for a lamp and switched it on so that he had to suffer the heat throughout that night, the papers, reported. The Emperor was further quoted as saying that he saw a complete newspaper for the first time at the Japanese Embassy in London. Pre- ■ viously,' he had seen - only ■ scrapbooks containing i. articles especially chosen for (him to-read.