Emperor Page #3

came from his office.

Following

his attempted suicide,

he is being held

at Sugamo Prison,

awaiting trial for war crimes.

Our medics are keeping him alive

long enough to face execution.

You are going to hang,

Mr. Prime Minister.

Do you want the Emperor

to have the same fate?

I need three names.

Konoe.

That'll be all. Thank you.

General Fellers, sir.

Not now, Rogers.

Fumimaro Konoe.

Fumimaro Konoe was

replaced as Prime Minister

right before the war started.

There must have been

a good reason.

Set up a meeting.

Yes, sir.

How influential is his family?

Very.

So he'll consider suicide?

Yes, sir.

No need.

I'm surprised I wasn't arrested

with Tojo and the others.

Your name was on the list.

I removed it, for now.

You know the Emperor well.

As well as anyone

can know His Majesty.

Was he against the war?

His Majesty is against all wars.

He is a pacifist by nature,

very gentle.

Yet he gave permission

for Pearl Harbor.

When Tojo

and the militarists took power,

His Majesty was drawn in.

It was a national delusion.

Could he have stopped it'?

I don't know.

I was removed

from power by then.

Why?

Three months before Pearl Harbor,

I opened a secret channel

to President Roosevelt.

I said I would meet him anywhere

to find a way to avoid a conflict.

We still could have stopped it,

but it was not in the interest

of the militarists.

So he does bear responsibility

for starting the war?

It's not

a black and white issue, General.

Millions of people died in his name.

Your skies were filled

with kamikazes.

Atrocities were committed every day

as he expanded his empire,

invading, conquering, decimating.

You incinerated two of our cities,

turning our children

into shadows on the walls.

We are both guilty.

Yes, we seized territory in China,

but did not Great Britain,

even Portugal, precede us?

Yes, we took Singapore

and the Malaya,

but we took it from the British.

We did not take the Philippines

from the Filipinos,

but from the Americans,

who themselves took it

from the Spanish.

If it is an international crime

to take territory by force,

who convicted the British, French,

Dutch, and American leaders?

Nobody.

And what is different with Japan'?

Nothing.

You see, General, we are

simply following your fine example.

I don't need a history lesson,

Your Excellency.

The only thing I know

for certain is,

during the war,

there was a fever over Japan.

I was part of that fever.

I cannot give you

what you want, General.

Then who can?

You must speak with Kido.

Koichi Kido,

Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal,

the Emperor's closest adviser

behind the high walls

of the Imperial Palace,

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