Hirakawa Sukehiro critiques the Asahi Shimbun’s claim that Emperor Hirohito bore wartime responsibility, noting that international protocol—such as the attendance of world leaders at the Showa Emperor’s funeral—already reflects a different historical judgment. He questions whether Japan and its so-called “Class-A war criminals” were truly villains, and whether they could be considered worse than those who ordered the atomic bombings. Hirakawa urges a fundamental re-examination of the Tokyo Trial narrative and modern interpretations of wartime guilt.

Was it possible to say that, even if they were villains, they were worse than those who ordered the atomic bombings?
June 23, 2024.

June 20, 2020.
There were many sections in this month’s issue of Seiron that I had left unread.
This morning, while reading the long serialized essay by Professor Hirakawa Sukehiro, I found a passage that made me think, “This is exactly China today.”
In the notes that Professor Hirakawa placed at the end, I found a passage proving that my intuition had been correct.
In this article, I will extract those passages and other parts that all Japanese people should know.
Professor Hirakawa’s essay is a must-read not only for the Japanese but for people around the world.

The Asahi Shimbun Editorial (2006)
Newspapers, television, radio, and school textbooks have long claimed that responsibility for the past war rests solely with Japan.
This view is commonly called the “Tokyo Trial view of history,” and within major newspapers there still remain people who express extreme opinions about “that war.”
“As a nation, Japan shifted the responsibility for the war onto the Class-A war criminals and thereby exempted others.
This included Emperor Showa.”
This is a line from an Asahi Shimbun editorial published in 2006.
But if the newspaper believed that such an editorial would sell papers, then that itself is a problem.
The paper’s circulation—and its prestige—continued to decline steadily throughout the Heisei era.
In 1989, during the Great Funeral of Emperor Showa, the President of the United States and other world leaders attended.
When one recalls that, one must conclude that history’s judgment has already been rendered internationally.
Those who condemn Emperor Hirohito as responsible for starting the war consist of Britain’s tabloid The Sun, Japan’s Akahata, certain editorial writers of the Asahi Shimbun, and some employees of NHK.
They even planned the broadcast of the “Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal,” which sought to condemn the Showa Emperor.
This view—that Emperor Showa was a villain—is a minority opinion.
Britain’s high-quality paper The Independent wrote:
“There are attempts to link the Japanese emperor Hirohito with atrocities committed by the Japanese army during the war.
But this would be like claiming that King George VI personally directed the inhumane bombing raids against Germany during the Second World War.” (November 1, 1988)
Although they were thus admonished, the argument for Emperor Showa’s responsibility has continued to be reproduced persistently both at home and abroad.

In recent years, various historical interpretations have emerged.
But will the so-called Tokyo Trial view of history continue to be accepted as it is?
And even if Emperor Showa was not a villain, was Japan itself a villain?
Were Japan’s Class-A war criminals truly villains?
And even if they were villains, could one really say they were worse than those who ordered the atomic bombings?
(To be continued.)