An essay dated June 13, 2019.
Centered on the fact that Emperor Shōwa held strong caution toward and opposition to Yōsuke Matsuoka, Japan’s withdrawal from the League of Nations, and the Tripartite Pact, this piece examines how the Asahi Shimbun and the military inflamed public opinion and led Japanese diplomacy astray.
Through the Tomita Memo, Yasukuni visits, international cooperation, and the pro-Matsuoka war song “Farewell to the League,” it reconsiders a crucial turning point in prewar Japan.

2019-06-13
Even when the Emperor expressed opposition, the Army General Staff and the Asahi Shimbun had no “ears to hear.”
The arrogant and self-righteous Matsuoka and Asahi were perfectly in step with each other.
The military and Asahi said that the 42 voting countries were in the wrong, and that Japan was not at fault.

This is a chapter I published on 2017-11-12 under the title, Emperor Shōwa Disliked Yōsuke Matsuoka, but Asahi Wrote and Composed a “Hymn to Matsuoka.”
What follows is the continuation of the previous chapter.
The emphasis in the text, except for the heading, is mine.
Emperor Shōwa Disliked Yōsuke Matsuoka, but Asahi Wrote and Composed a “Hymn to Matsuoka”
Judging from the Jitsuroku and the Dokuhakuroku, Emperor Shōwa seems to have felt particular affinity for Britain, where he studied during his time as Crown Prince.
He felt affinity toward Britain and America, and in contrast held strong caution toward the totalitarian states of Germany and the Soviet Union.
Yōsuke Matsuoka, who had advanced Japanese diplomacy in a self-righteous manner, was the very man who pushed through the withdrawal from the League of Nations and the Tripartite Pact among Japan, Germany, and Italy.
He was the person Emperor Shōwa disliked most, and the Emperor had strongly requested Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe to dismiss him.
Regarding the “Tomita Memo” reported by the Nikkei Shimbun in 2006 (Heisei 18) concerning Tomohiko Tomita, former Grand Steward of the Imperial Household Agency, now deceased, the Jitsuroku mentions the fact of the memo report and states, “remarks are made concerning the enshrinement of the so-called Class-A war criminals at Yasukuni Shrine and concerning imperial worship” (entry dated April 28, 1988), but does not touch on the contents.
The Jitsuroku tries as much as possible not to enter into the Emperor’s inner thoughts.
Emperor Shōwa’s “visit to Yasukuni Shrine,” whose last occurrence was in 1975 (Shōwa 50).
Regarding the question of the relationship between the “cessation of visits” and the “enshrinement of Class-A war criminals,” there are views that affirm it and views that deny it, but I will not pry into that here.
However, the Jitsuroku made clear that the opposition movement of the Japan Socialist Party, now the Social Democratic Party, and other opposition parties had an effect.
In other words, it seems that the inability to preserve the quiet environment indispensable for worship had an effect.
And since Emperor Shōwa had a sharp eye for observing character, it seems that he also coldly saw through individual personalities (Matsuoka Yōsuke died of illness in prison in June 1946).
This cannot possibly be a matter to be discussed in one lump under the phrase “Class-A war criminals.”
Matsuoka was greatly dissatisfied with the adoption of the “report condemning Japan” by the Lytton Commission after the Manchurian Incident of 1931 (Shōwa 6).
In 1933 (Shōwa 8), Matsuoka, then Japan’s plenipotentiary ambassador, withdrew from the League of Nations on his own judgment.
However, Emperor Shōwa, who wished for international cooperation, opposed the withdrawal from the League of Nations.
The League of Nations had been established in 1918 (Taishō 7), during the First World War.
It was founded after President Wilson of the United States announced the “Fourteen Points for Peace” and called for the establishment of an institution for maintaining peace.
There were 42 member nations, and Britain, France, Japan, and Italy were permanent council members.
“To withdraw” was far too abrupt.
A path other than withdrawal should also have been explored.
Like the “expiration” of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, it was an event regrettable for Japan.
When Takeji Nara, Grand Chamberlain and Chief Military Aide-de-Camp, said, “The withdrawal was regrettable, but it was the opinion of the people,” the Emperor replied, “Even if you call it public opinion, when, as now, military men suppress individual opinions, can one truly know what real public opinion is?”
After reaching adulthood, Emperor Shōwa rarely expressed likes and dislikes, yet he unusually said that he disliked Yōsuke Matsuoka.
The Emperor seems always to have sensed in Matsuoka a makeshift “double heart.”
Meanwhile, Asahi highly praised Yōsuke Matsuoka’s decision and lavishly extolled in its pages the act of withdrawing from the League of Nations.
Not only that, in 1933 it wrote and composed the military song Farewell to the League in praise of Matsuoka.
It elevated Matsuoka, who had argued the “legitimacy” of withdrawing from the League of Nations, into a “national hero.”
The conduct of Emperor Shōwa and that of the Asahi Shimbun were too sharply contrasted, but, with Asahi’s instigation, the people too became intoxicated with Matsuoka’s withdrawal from the League of Nations.
Together with Asahi, the people were captivated by Yōsuke Matsuoka, who spoke in defiance of the 42 nations at the League of Nations hall in Geneva.
The military song created by Asahi is as follows (the boldface is by the author.
It is the core of this song).
(Document 4) Farewell to the League Lyrics by Asahi Shimbun, “Child of Today’s Problems”　Composition by Yashi Eguchi
<Verse 1>
At last reality has come, and closing their eyes before justice
when they cast their shameless and discourteous forty-two votes, our representative kicks away his seat
<Verse 2>
Do you not see it, the five-colored national flag newly flying over Manchuria
when the tears of long oppression by warlords are wiped away, the blood boils, and thirty million revive
<Verse 3>
Ah, though the Alpine peaks are high and the waters of Lake Léman are pure, the shadow of ideals has fallen to the earth
deep understanding is hard to draw forth, and the sky of Geneva is dark in spring
<Verse 4>
Farewell then, O League, until the day we meet again, when the light of peace in the Far East shines brightly
will you welcome with smiling face the gallantry of Japan, leader of the alliance

In 1936 (Shōwa 11), Japan and Germany, both of which had withdrawn from the League of Nations and become isolated, concluded the Anti-Comintern Pact between Japan and Germany, whose assumed enemy was the Soviet Union.
Then Italy also joined this pact, and in 1940 (Shōwa 15) the Tripartite Pact among Japan, Germany, and Italy was concluded.
Asahi, the moment Hitler dangled recognition of Manchukuo, tilted toward support for alliance with Hitler.
Even when the Emperor expressed opposition, the Army General Staff and the Asahi Shimbun had no “ears to hear.”
The arrogant and self-righteous Matsuoka and Asahi were perfectly in step with each other.
The military and Asahi said that the 42 voting countries were in the wrong, and that Japan was not at fault.
In July 1940, the Konoe Cabinet was formed.
Matsuoka secured from Konoe the promise that “diplomacy will be left entirely to Matsuoka,” then carried out large-scale transfers of ambassadors and ministers, and “swept out the pro-British and pro-American faction” from the Foreign Ministry.
Matsuoka’s “runaway course” began.
In March 1941 (Shōwa 16), Matsuoka went to Berlin and visited Hitler.
In April he went to Moscow and committed a great mistake by concluding the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact with Stalin, who was carrying out the “Great Purge” of tens of millions.
The “Matsuoka concept,” which sought to oppose the United States with four powers—“Japan, Germany, Italy, and in addition the Soviet Union”—collapsed helplessly two months later.
In June of that same year, Germany suddenly invaded the Soviet Union.
Matsuoka moved energetically from Berlin to Moscow, but in the end he was simply tossed about by Hitler.
The reason Emperor Shōwa demanded the dismissal of Foreign Minister Matsuoka was that he perceived in Matsuoka a misjudgment from which there was “no turning back.”
Faced with the Emperor’s demand for dismissal, the Fumimaro Konoe Cabinet could not remove Matsuoka alone, and in July of that year the Konoe Cabinet “resigned en masse.”
Later Matsuoka regretted that “the conclusion of the Tripartite Pact was the greatest blunder of my life,” but the ones who cannot regret it enough are the Japanese people.
To be continued.