Written on June 3, 2019, this essay reexamines the history of the Shōwa era through the central figure of Emperor Shōwa, tracing the Russian Revolution, the Comintern, the Japanese Communist Party, the Peace Preservation Law, and finally the Hull Note, in order to argue how Japan was manipulated by international communist operations.
Through Stalin’s orders, the role of Harry White, and the background of anti-Japanese movements in Manchuria and China, it sharply illuminates the structure of ideological subversion and international politics behind the outbreak of war between Japan and the United States.

2019-06-03
An order had come down from Stalin to make America and Japan go to war.
Of course, in Manchuria and in China as well, if there had been no Communist Party, such anti-Japanese movements would not have arisen.

The following book is not only essential reading for every Japanese citizen, but also a book that people all over the world should read.
It is filled with facts that those who merely subscribed to the Asahi Shimbun and watched NHK knew absolutely nothing about… facts they were never told.
It is one of the greatest books in the postwar world.
Watanabe Shoichi was from Yamagata Prefecture, the prefecture neighboring Miyagi, where I was born.
The people of Yamagata must continue to proclaim to Japan and to the world with pride that he, one of the greatest intellectuals in postwar Japan and a true treasure of Japan, was their fellow countryman.
Japan Was Driven by the Sinister Hand of the Comintern
As stated in the previous chapter, after the war, Emperor Showa was placed “subject to,” that is, subordinated to, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers.
Therefore, such statements by His Majesty the Emperor at the time as the so-called “Humanity Declaration” edict issued in the year after the war ended (Showa 21 [1946]) were all made under coercive circumstances and should not simply be accepted at face value.
It was reported that General MacArthur expressed satisfaction with this edict.
It was clear that it was an edict designed to satisfy MacArthur.
However, if one reads the edict carefully, it says, “not something produced solely by myths and legends,” so it can also be interpreted as not denying myths and legends, but rather saying that “they are not the only basis.”
Nor does it deny that the Emperor is an Arahitogami, a manifest deity, not a Western deus or god.
It may be, however, that in the English translation handed to MacArthur, which I myself have never seen, it was rendered in such a way as to satisfy him.
In any case, although His Majesty the Emperor is not what the West calls “God,” it remains an unmistakable fact that he is still the center of Japan’s Shinto.
To view the history of the Showa era with Emperor Showa at its center, I believe, is one orthodox way of looking at it.
Here, I shall convey that view.
The misfortune of Emperor Showa was that the Russian Revolution occurred around the time he was growing up.
The Russian Revolution was not something that concerned only Emperor Showa, but after it occurred, Stalin’s government issued an order directed at Japan: “abolish the Imperial Household.”
These were the so-called “1922 Thesis,” “1927 Thesis,” and “1932 Thesis” of the Comintern.
The Comintern was founded in Taisho 11 (1922), two years after the Russian Revolution, and the Japanese Communist Party was launched in Taisho 11 (1922) as the “Japan Branch of the Comintern.”
If one takes as an example the “1922 Thesis” issued to the Japanese Communist Party, that “Japan Branch of the Comintern,” it included items such as the following.
“Abolition of the emperor system.
Abolition of the House of Peers.
Abolition of the present army, police, military police, and secret police.
Arming of workers.
Withdrawal of troops from Korea, China, Taiwan, and Karafuto.
Confiscation and nationalization of the land of the Emperor and of the great landlords.”
Even though there was no way that a weak single organization like the Communist Party could accomplish such things, the Comintern nevertheless issued instructions like these.
Incidentally, the term “emperor system,” which is often used in Japan as well, was coined by the Comintern, and Japanese people ought to call it the “Imperial Household.”
These matters are discussed in detail in Tanizawa Eiichi’s book Why the Term “Emperor System” Should Not Be Used (PHP Institute).
In response to the Comintern’s order to “abolish the emperor system,” Japan had no choice but to enact the Peace Preservation Law.
Stalin’s directives gave rise to all manner of such tragedies.
Had there been no Russian Revolution, and had the Comintern not worked in the shadows, might not the twentieth century have been a peaceful era?
To begin with, if there had been no Russian Revolution, Hitler would not have emerged.
Hitler was a man who arose out of the anti-Communist movement in Germany that opposed the Russian Revolution.
However, the Nazis were the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (die Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), so Hitler too was nothing other than a socialist.
Accordingly, the war between Hitler and Stalin was a quarrel between leftists.
In Italy as well, the Communist Party and Prime Minister Mussolini were in conflict.
Mussolini was, of course, a leftist.
If one were to compare this to the university struggles, one could say it was like the struggle between the Yoyogi faction of the Communist Party and the anti-Yoyogi factions such as Chukaku and Kakumaru.
At the time of the university struggles, leftists hurled the insult “fascist” at one another.
That is to say, Stalin may be likened to Minsei, Hitler to the German Chukaku faction, and Mussolini to the Italian Kakumaru faction.
The sinister hand of the Comintern also reached into America and dug into the core of the Democratic Party, and this drove America toward war with Japan.
Prime Minister Tojo Hideki, in conducting negotiations with America, was faithfully following the will of Emperor Showa and doing everything in his power to seek a path to peace.
Faced with America’s refusal to yield even one step, Japan finally presented Proposal B, believing that this would settle the matter.
This was suddenly overturned by the Hull Note, which was in effect America’s final ultimatum, and Japan was driven into a situation in which it had no choice but to proceed to war.
This Hull Note was not written by Secretary of State Hull.
In reality, it was written by a Treasury official named Harry White, but he was a Soviet agent.
An order had come down from Stalin to make America and Japan go to war.
Of course, in Manchuria and in China as well, if there had been no Communist Party, such anti-Japanese movements would not have arisen.
Japan was made to dance by the sinister hand of the Soviet Comintern.
It was a tragedy that most of the reign of Emperor Showa coincided with the age of Soviet communism.
If there was any small consolation, it was that Emperor Showa lived long enough to witness Perestroika, the policy of Soviet reconstruction that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, before he passed away.
This essay will be continued.