‘Emperor was willing to die’
NZPA-Reuter Tokyo Emperor Hirohito told the Allied commander, General Douglas MacArthur, in 1945 that he was willing to be hanged as penance for Japan’s actions in World War Two, a Tokyo .newspaper has reported. The “Tokyo Sbimbun,” in a despatch from Washington quoting excerpts from a diary written by an American woman who taught the Emperor’s son, said that at their first meeting on September 27, 1945, MacArthur asked Hirohito if he would take responsibility for the war. Hirohito replied: “Before answering that question, I would like to talk ... I don’t mind however you may treat me. I will accept it You may hang me.”
He was also quoted as saying: “I did not hope for war because I did not think (Japan) could win the war. I had distrust in the military. I did everything in my power to prevent the war.” The author of the diary is Elizabeth Vining, now aged 85, who served as a private English tutor to Hirohito’s eldest son, Crown Prince Aklhito, from 1946 to 1950. The Crown Prince is now on a visit to the United States and will have a reunion with Ms Vining.
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Press, 6 October 1987, Page 10
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197‘Emperor was willing to die’ Press, 6 October 1987, Page 10
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