Reddit reviews Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War

hirohito is generally misunderstood. his position as an emperor was mostly ceremonial, and construed as putting him "above" japanese politics. he never truly reconciled that during the war; neither was the real culprit tojo (who was appointed PM long after plans against the US had been made, and who had no real choice but to see them through or be assassinated). issue was mainly with a young, imperialist, and nationalist military/navy that could not be controlled by the japanese government. a "divine mandate" from hirohito preventing hostilities would have lead to a military coup and many more assassinations than there were.

source: https://www.amazon.com/Emperor-Hirohito-Pacific-Noriko-Kawamura/dp/0295995173/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487978440&sr=8-1&keywords=emperor+hirohito

bonus meme: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Fz50hqWrHUY/maxresdefault.jpg