four to the japanese, hirohito is a direct descendent of the sun, and what is so high, so mighty, so brilliant as the sun. accordingly, no one can stand above or look down upon the emperor. when he passes through the streets, all windows above the first floor must be tightly shuttered. the train to tokyo from anywhere in japan is the up train to tokyo because the emperor lives there. nor can the emperor be imitated in any way. only his automobile may be moon colored. not even his tailor may touch the person of the emperor, for who would lay hands upon the sun? if you are japanese, it would hurt your eyes to look at hirohito, just as it would hurt your eyes to look at the blazing sun. nor would anyone dream of handling his uncovered picture. when hirohito's face appeared on the front cover of an american magazine, the japanese government filed an official protest with the american state department. whatever takes place in japan, it is he, the god emperor, that causes it. from him, all things emanate, and in him all things subsist. he makes the japanese rice grow, he makes japanese sol

if you were japanese, it would hurt your eyes to look at hirohito, just as it would hurt your eyes to look at the blazing sun. know would anyone handle his uncovered picture. when hirohito's face appeared on the front cover of an american magazine, the japanese government filed an official protest with the american state department. takes place in japan, it is he, the god emperor, that causes it did from him, all things emanate, and in him all things subsist. he makes the japanese rice grow, makes japanese soldiers conquer the world. in his name, they bring to other people justice, enlightenment, truth, prosperity, and peace. ♪ >> the year 1940 was a holy year in japan, celebrating the 2600th of its founding by its first got emperor. [chanting] narrator: if you are japanese, you believe he was the grandson saidsun goddess, and she rulee prince, go down and over luxuriant land of read planes as mine. palace and took the wife the daughter of a mountain deity, and sheep or his son, and she took and turned the god of the sea, and they had a son. exactly 2600 years ago, he landed and pro

four to the japanese, hirohito is a direct descendent of the sun, and what is so high, so mighty, so brilliant as the sun. accordingly, no one can stand above or look down upon the emperor. when he passes through the streets, all windows above the first floor must be tightly shuttered. the train to tokyo from anywhere in japan is the up train to tokyo because the emperor lives there. nor can the emperor be imitated in any way. only his automobile may be moon colored. not even his tailor may touch the person of the emperor, for who would lay hands upon the sun? if you are japanese, it would hurt your eyes to look at hirohito, just as it would hurt your eyes to look at the blazing sun. nor would anyone dream of handling his uncovered picture. if you are japanese, it would when hirohito's face appeared on the front cover of an american magazine, the japanese government filed an official protest with the american state department. whatever takes place in japan, it is he, the god emperor, that causes it. from him, all things emanate, and in him all things subsist. he makes the japanese ri

after the emperor, emperor hirohito made his famous radio address to end the war, a few hours later, kai-shek ii made a speech which was broadcast across the nation and he quoted from the bible and so on. and it came down to a statement, and it's better in chinese than in english, of course -- [speaking chinese] let us repay evil with kindness or generosity or anything like that. now, it served his purposes, of course it did. but that became the initial response of china. and it was politically motivated in the sense that that same speech was picked up by general okamura who then decided that working with the nationalist was probably a good option. so it was political as well. but nonetheless, there is that kind of -- and i think jan kai-shek was a christian and i think this was hard for -- this is meant and it is still a version of response to this that has a lot of mileage in taiwan, where it was brought forth recently at a commemoration. at the beginning of the second world war when the president tried to use this and had his own parades and his own way of showing, we have to have

and i think the utmost example is hirohito. >> host: emperor. >> he basically -- outside of the real decisionmaking process, because he is not really supposed to interfere with politics. he did feel he had a veto power, but he was reluctant to use it, according to his post war confession. >> host: could he have stopped pearl harbor? >> i do. many people disagree, but i think the fact he felt he needed to explain why he didn't intervene and exercise the veto power immediately after the -- a few years after the war, that's very telling because the probably felt that he needed to explain and probably could have done so. his reasoning was that he thought if he didn't go along with the joint decision of the military ask civilian government that was put up to him to pursue diplomacy and military or would be in peril, we be undermining the military. probably felt there could be a diplomatic breakthrough within the time frame, which is could optimistic in hyped -- hindsight because somebody necessary the government, prime minister conway, who was prime minister of japan, after four years lea

by the sheer force of their weak personalities, remained in power, and i think the utmost example is hirohito, who is -- >> host: emperor. >> guest: empour empour ore. he wait to supposed to inter fear will politics over the felt like he had a veto power was what reluctant to use it, according to his potion war confession. >> host: could he have stopped pearl harbor. >> guest: i personally do. many people disagree but i think the fact that he felt he needed to explain why he didn't intervene and exercise a veto power after -- immediately after -- a few years after the war. that's very telling because he probably himself felt that he needed to explain and probably could have done so. his reasoning was that he thought if he didn't go along with the joint decision of the military civilian government, that was put up to him, to pursue diplomacy or military or -- he would be undermining the military. probably felt there could be a diplomatic breakthrough within the time frame, which is really too optimistic in hindsight but might have felt it because somebody else in the government, prime minister

by the sheer force of their weak personalities, remained in power, and i think the utmost example is hirohito, who is -- >> host: emperor. >> guest: empour empour ore. he wait to supposed to inter fear will politics over the felt like he had a veto power was what reluctant to use it, according to his potion war confession. >> host: could he have stopped pearl harbor. >> guest: i personally do. many people disagree but i think the fact that he felt he needed to explain why he didn't intervene and exercise a veto power after -- immediately after -- a few years after the war. that's very telling because he probably himself felt that he needed to explain and probably could have done so. his reasoning was that he thought if he didn't go along with the joint decision of the military civilian government, that was put up to him, to pursue diplomacy or military or -- he would be undermining the military. probably felt there could be a diplomatic breakthrough within the time frame, which is really too optimistic in hindsight but might have felt it because somebody else in the government, prime minister

happened, we joined france,es and helped helped great britain defeat hitler and hirohito. it was a turning point like no other for the united states it ranks right up there with the revolutionary war and the civil war. host: thanks for the call from detroit, michigan. on twitter -- we want to hear your thoughts this morning. our phone lines are open. world war ii veterans, 202-748-8002. we would love to hear your voices this morning. we will be talking about pearl harbor in our last segment. amy is in california. good morning. you are up next. caller: good morning. have a question or clarification based on a statement made earlier by a caller. he stated that the japanese were not interned. i believe they were american citizens of japanese the scent -- thdescent. host: they were both american citizens and noncitizens that were interned. thatll be talking about part of world war ii as well as some other aspects and the legacy of world war ii. an associate professor of history at washington state column in histe a local paper about what it means to remember pearl harbor. "75