Winner of the Pulitzer Prize In this groundbreaking biography of the Japanese emperor Hirohito, Herbert P. Bix offers the first complete, unvarnished look at the enigmatic leader whose sixty-three-year reign ushered Japan into the modern world. Never before has the full life of this controversial figure been revealed with such clarity and vividness. Bix shows what it was like to be trained from birth for a lone position at the apex of the nation's political hierarchy and as a revered symbol of divine status. Influenced by an unusual combination of the Japanese imperial tradition and a modern scientific worldview, the young emperor gradually evolves into his preeminent role, aligning himself with the growing ultranationalist movement, perpetuating a cult of religious emperor worship, resisting attempts to curb his power, and all the while burnishing his image as a reluctant, passive monarch. Here we see Hirohito as he truly was: a man of strong will and real authority. Supported by a vast array of previously untapped primary documents, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan is perhaps most illuminating in lifting the veil on the mythology surrounding the emperor's impact on the world stage. Focusing closely on Hirohito's interactions with his advisers and successive Japanese governments, Bix sheds new light on the causes of the China War in 1937 and the start of the Asia-Pacific War in 1941. And while conventional wisdom has had it that the nation's increasing foreign aggression was driven and maintained not by the emperor but by an elite group of Japanese militarists, the reality, as witnessed here, is quite different. Bix documents in detail the strong, decisive role Hirohito played in wartime operations, from the takeover of Manchuria in 1931 through the attack on Pearl Harbor and ultimately the fateful decision in 1945 to accede to an unconditional surrender. In fact, the emperor stubbornly prolonged the war effort and then used the horrifying bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, together with the Soviet entrance into the war, as his exit strategy from a no-win situation. From the moment of capitulation, we see how American and Japanese leaders moved to justify the retention of Hirohito as emperor by whitewashing his wartime role and reshaping the historical consciousness of the Japanese people. The key to this strategy was Hirohito's alliance with General MacArthur, who helped him maintain his stature and shed his militaristic image, while MacArthur used the emperor as a figurehead to assist him in converting Japan into a peaceful nation. Their partnership ensured that the emperor's image would loom large over the postwar years and later decades, as Japan began to make its way in the modern age and struggled -- as it still does -- to come to terms with its past. Until the very end of a career that embodied the conflicting aims of Japan's development as a nation, Hirohito remained preoccupied with politics and with his place in history. Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan provides the definitive account of his rich life and legacy. Meticulously researched and utterly engaging, this book is proof that the history of twentieth-century Japan cannot be understood apart from the life of its most remarkable and enduring leader.

An ancient artifact from a previously unknown archeological site threatens to contradict a basic tenet of Japanese history. When the artifact falls into the hands of American journalist, Matt Davis, Takeo Kimura, a successful industrialist, sets in motion a series of deadly events in an attempt to keep the artifact's secret from ever being revealed.

This book describes in considerable detail the people, events ships and aircraft that shaped the Air Service from its origins in the late 19th century to its demise in 1945. The formative years began when a British Naval Mission was established in Japan in 1867 to advise on the development of balloons for naval purposes. After the first successful flights of fixed-wing aircraft in the USA and Europe, the Japanese navy sent several officers to train in Europe as pilots and imported a steady stream of new models to evaluate.During World War One Japan became allied with the UK and played a significant part in keeping the German fleets of ships and submarines at bay in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. However, in the international naval treaties that followed they felt betrayed, since the number of capital ships, battleships and cruisers, that they were allowed was below those of the USA and the UK.Aircraft carriers were not included, so a program of carrier building was started and continued until World War Two. At the same time they developed an aircraft industry and at the beginning of war their airplanes were comparable, and in some instances superior, to those of the British and Americans.Much prewar experience was gained during Japans invasion of China, but their continued anger with America festered and resulted in their becoming allied with Germany, Italy and the Vichy France during World War Two. There followed massive successful attacks on Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, the Southern Islands, Port Darwin and New Guinea.The British were decimated and the USA recoiled at the onslaught, taking over a year to regroup and take the war to the Imperial Japanese forces. Throughout the conflict many sea battles were fought and the name Zero became legendary. When Japan eventually capitulated after the Atomic bombs were dropped the Japanese Imperial Air Service was disbanded.

Before World War I, Japan did not have an antisemitic tradition of its own. Although influences of Western antisemitism reached the country in the late 19th century, it was only during Japan's participation in the Siberian Intervention of 1918-22 that the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" made their way to Japan. The dissemination of this work promoted "conspiracy and scapegoating antisemitism" in the country. In 1920-21, several Japanese translations of the "Protocols" appeared, and the topics of Jewish omnipotence and the "Jewish peril" ("Yudayaka" in Japanese) became widespread in the mass media and in literature. One of the themes discussed was the "Jewish character" of the Bolshevik Revolution. Discusses writings by Eiju Oniwa, Tsuyanoske Higuchi (aka Baiseki Kitagami), Seika Ariga, Minetaro Yamanaka, Tokio Imai, etc., as well as the writings of those who criticized the conception of the "Jewish world conspiracy" and rejected the "Yudayaka" and the veracity of the "Protocols": Sakuzo Yoshino, Tokusaburo Hatta, Kametaro Mitsukawa, Masao Kinoshita, and others. In 1929 a roundtable on the "Jewish problem" was organized by the magazine "Heibon".