"Japan has surrendered, brought to its knees by the most terrible weapon ever devised, the atomic bomb." "The country is a smoking ruin." "Despite this, their ruler, Emperor Hirohito, is still worshipped by his people as a living god." "We have placed this Sacred Son of Heaven on the protected list until we decide what to do with him." "I fear the Japan I fell in love with will be scarred beyond recognition." "I'm seeing aerial reconnaissance photos, but they only tell part of the story." "General Fellers, the old man wants you up front." "General MacArthur, sir." "I'm told there will be 2,000 Imperial troops lining the road we'll have to drive, and, um..." "We have 100 men, sir, and the cars they've requisitioned for us are not armored." "The snipers could take us out at any point, General." "Fellers?" "Sir, the Emperor rallied his people in ways that were unimaginable only a month ago." "He did so by ordering them to surrender without ever using the word "surrender."" "He simply asked that they "endure the unendurable."" "And I do not doubt their allegiance to him, nor to his order to surrender, sir." "Get through to Washington and tell them" "I've consulted my experts, and there's nothing to worry about." "That'll do." "Gentlemen, we will take no weapons with us when we step off this airplane." "Nothing will impress them more than a show of absolute fearlessness." "If they don't know they're licked by now, they will get the picture today." "Now, let's show them some good old-fashioned American swagger." "General!" "General Mac!" "Welcome to Japan, Mac." "Good to see you." "This way, sir!" "The worst war in all history is over." "Now is the time to win this fragile peace, or impose it if we have to." "We are the occupying power... but we must be seen as liberators, not conquerors." "Not your usual surrender formation." "They avert their gaze for the Emperor, too, sir." "They are paying you the ultimate respect." "I know." "All right, let's move it!" " You two men at the top of the stairs." " Sir!" "Our headquarters is just across from the Imperial Palace in one of the few buildings our B-29s missed." "The palace is strictly off limits to our forces." "General MacArthur has ordered me to arrest and bring to justice 3O of the Class A war criminals who are close to Emperor Hirohito." "Rogers." "Sir?" "Take those down." " Listen up." " Attention, gentlemen." "I want all suspects arrested in a one-hour window." "We cannot give them time to react." "We'll begin with former Prime Minister Tojo at 2100 hours." "Let's go!" "You heard him!" "Get busy!" "Hustle it up!" "The arrests must be made as close to simultaneous as possible." "All right." "Let's move it out!" "Let's go!" "It's an island." "They're not going anywhere." "There's a long tradition of suicide, General." "General Fellers?" "I am Takahashi, your driver and interpreter." "What did you say your name was again?" "Takahashi, at your service." "Follow me." "And you work for me, correct?" "Exclusively, sir." "Move it!" "It's a private matter." "Find her." "Let's go." "Go, move it." "Come on!" "Go!" "Move!" "Watch for booby traps." "Check that door!" "He's still alive." "Get a medic in here, now." "Medic!" "Shoots himself in the chest and misses his heart?" "What was he mumbling?" "He was apologizing for taking so long to die." "These people are barbaric." "They have different ideas of honor." " Sir." " Sector five, six, and nine." "I'll take care of it." "General MacArthur, sir." "As you were." "Come with me." "Richter?" "26 of the top 29 accused were successfully detained, sir." "And the others?" "Took their own lives, sir." "That is unacceptable, unacceptable." "What about Tojo?" "Attempted, but we got there in time." "Do not let that son of a bitch die before we get a chance to hang him." "Our mission has changed." "The President has taken the Emperor off the protected list." "He can be tried as a war criminal if we want." "Clearly, it is what the Justice Department wants." "But they have given me all of ten days to conduct an investigation into the Emperor's role in the war." " Ten days?" " That's right." "That's not feasible, sir." "But isn't there a consensus already, sir?" "The whole world wants the Emperor damned to hell." "Thank you, Richter, that'll do." "Sir." "Come in here, Fellers." "How long since you were here?" "Five years ago, sir." "It's hard to come back and see it like this, isn't it?" "Yes, sir." "Well, we have a job to do." "There is a strong consensus about the fate of the Emperor, but it doesn't mean shit to me." "I won't be bullied by those cretins in Washington." "My mission is to rebuild Japan." "Yes, sir." "If I arrest the Emperor, I'll face mass suicides, possibly open revolt." "If I put him on trial," "I could be setting a spark to a powder keg at precisely the wrong moment." "Your thoughts, Fellers?" "There's always the question of justice, sir." "And on the practical side, there's Stalin." "Oh, that son of a bitch." "I don't want the Communists in here." "But Washington wants vengeance on the Emperor, because their voters do, and their voters have no fucking idea what's good for them." "If the Emperor goes, the Reds will enter." "Staving off the Communists is the plight of our times, sir." "A plight that rests with you, Fellers." "I'm making this your job, not Richter's." "Ten days." "I have confidence in you." "Sir, I am deeply honored, but I'm not sure" "You know this country." "You love it." "You hate it." "Your thinking about it has been dead on so far, and I know you'll meet their deadline, because, like me, you don't want those bastards making our decisions for us." "The conclusion has to be ours." "Pardon the Emperor, or depose and arrest him, but make a decision." "Commit it to paper for my consideration and approval." "You're right." "General, I have a Jeep for you." "I'll walk." "It's not safe." "On the night of the 10th of March, 1945, our bombers turned the Japanese capital into the largest crematorium the world has ever known." "100,000 people were incinerated in a single air raid." "The stench of burnt flesh and rotting bodies still lingers." "This country is starving and teetering on the edge of total collapse." "It wouldn't take much for their resentment to ignite into revolt." "And the fate of the Emperor could be just the spark." "Miss!" "Excuse me, miss." "You dropped these." "Thank you." "Keep it." "Let's do the Lindy!" "Aya, let's go somewhere else." "Sorry, I didn't know it would be so wild in there." "Let's dance here." "I've been wondering how you got the nerve to come so far from home all alone." "Well, I am too, how do you say... outspoken for a Japanese girl." "Outspoken?" "Is that a serious flaw?" "Sir." "I checked the address of her apartment in Tokyo." "It was hit in a bombing three months ago." "The house was demolished." "She substituted at a school near Shizuoka." "Contact her uncle, General Kajima." "He'll know where she is." "Yes, sir." "Gentlemen, our mission has changed." "We will investigate the Emperor for war crimes." "The key players will go here." "We're dividing it into three categories:" "the military on this side," "Imperial staff, and politicians." "Sir, the information you asked for." "All right." "We will detain and interrogate as many as we can find." "Ma'am, do you speak English?" "Tracking them down won't be easy." "Having a street address is not much use when whole streets have disappeared off the face of the Earth." "I don't anticipate too much cooperation." "So these are the top military commanders." "We now have 32 names." "These were the people that were with the Emperor when the war started." "There's not enough time to investigate them all." "There's no other way to know which of them might have critical information, sir." "None of our Japanese so-called friends are in the mix, so they can't help us." "If our friends can't help us, let's try our enemies." "They'll never turn on their buddies, sir." "They have no incentive." "They might if it means saving their Emperor." "Tojo was hand-picked by the Emperor to be Prime Minister." "The order to attack Pearl Harbor 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 advisor behind the high walls of the Imperial Palace," "at Hirohitds side constantly from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima." "We contacted his entourage, and he has accepted my invitation to meet at a discreet location, well away from our headquarters." "Evening, ma'am." "I'm here to pick up Aya." "Aya's not here." "We were supposed to meet." "Do you know where she is?" "Aya went back to Japan this morning." "What?" "Did she leave a note?" "No." "He's not going to show, is he?" "No, sir." "He's afraid he'll get arrested." "You send him a message from me." "When he sees his Emperor hanging from the end of a rope, it was Kido that hanged him." "Yes, Mr. President." "No, I think you've hit the mark, Mr. President." "Certainly." "And thank you, sir." "You lying son of a bitch." "Well?" "We're still looking for Kido, sir." "God damn it, Fellers, if Kido is the key to this investigation," "I don't care what you have to do." "Perform a miracle if you must, but do not come back to this office unless you are dragging him by the balls." "Clear?" "Yes, sir." "Hell, he even wore a naval uniform that day, sir." "I don't see what else you need." "He might have known about it, might have even signed his name to it, but did he want to start it and could he really have stopped it?" "He's the Emperor, sir." "He could do whatever he wanted." "It might seem that way on the surface, but this is a nation of contradictions." "I guess they escape me." "Does seem pretty cut and dried, sir." "We need to focus on the stepping-stone meetings that led Japan to war." "Who were the key players and how close to the Emperor were they?" "It is an intricate web of power surrounding the Emperor." "The Chrysanthemum Throne is a mystery, even unto itself." "If I find the Emperor guilty, Washington will be delighted." "They want him to pay the ultimate price." "Who is this man, really?" "Could he have stopped Japan going to war, even if he wanted to?" "Konoe is right." "Nothing in Japan is ever black and white." "There are a million shades of gray." "Hi, mister." "Aya, I hope you don't mind me showing up like this unannounced, but I was serving duty in the Philippines, and I got an assignment to come to Japan." "Since I was nowhere near the neighborhood, I thought..." "Please, go away." "Aya, I sent you so many letters, none of which you returned." "You shouldn't have come." "Good morning." "Shimada Sensei..." "They are going to call the police." "May I walk with you a little bit?" "My father made me promise one thing, that I would never marry an American." "When he became ill, I came back to Japan." "He passed away." "I'm sorry." "You look as beautiful as the first time we ever met." "Gentlemen, we won't be dining on steak tonight." "This country is starving, and if word got out that we were feasting, we would lose our moral authority, and, of course, moral authority is what we need the most." "Ah, it looks as if our dinner is ready." "Courage, men." "I intend to make Japan the world's greatest experiment in the liberation of a people from military rule." "How is your investigation coming, General?" "Fine." "I hear you're working round the clock... you and all the other top Japan experts." "Excuse me for a moment, gentlemen." "You know, he's playing you, General." "MacArthur, like a fiddle." "MacArthur believes in honor." "And glory." "His own, of course, at your expense." "He wants to save Hirohito, but he needs you to do it." "He doesn't need me." "He's the Supreme Commander." "He's much more ambitious than that." "He wants to be the next President of the United States." "What do you think all those photographs are for?" "Are you finished, General?" "He doesn't want to ruin his chances of being nominated, and he knows Americans want to see the Emperor's head on a stake." "Have you stopped to consider what would happen if the Emperor were to hang?" "This whole occupation could blow up on us." "It's not a decision I'll take lightly." "I agree." "It's a quagmire, but justice should be served." "Revenge is not the same thing as justice." "You play it how you want, General, but if MacArthur finds a way to save Hirohito and blame it on you, he'll do it." "He has no guarantee that I will exonerate the Emperor." "He knows you share his phobia of Communists." "It's precisely why he chose you." "He also knows you have an affinity for Japan... and Japanese women." "Don't let him play you, General." "Ready, Higgins?" "Over here, Eichelberger, for your moment in the sun." "There we go." " Very good, sir." " Very good." "That went quite well, I think." "I'll be sure you all get a copy." "Where to, sir?" "That document I gave you on the woman, where is it?" "Right here, sir." "Did you let anyone see it?" "Of course not, sir." "Here it is." "No, that's all right, you keep it." "I need a drink." "I'll take you, sir." "Did you find out anything else on her?" "I have not been able to contact her uncle." "But she was teaching at a school near Shizuoka, but the town was bombed." "Bombed?" "Shizuoka?" "Yes." "Nine months ago." "That's impossible." "The damage was...extensive." "How far is it?" "Three hours from here." "Let's go." "Hi." "Made you smile." "You worked late." "Yes." "While I waited, I did some research for this paper I have to write." "I learned a lot just walking around your school." "How do you get your kids to clean the grounds?" "Keep the pressure." "The army is teaching kids to hate foreigners." "Those pamphlets on the shelf, they hand them out everywhere." "I hate what it's doing to people." "Come." "Some of my students aren't even allowed to study English anymore." "My class is so small now." "I am afraid, after all." "I'm afraid for... their future." "I want to know who survived this raid." "I would like a list." "I can get you a list of the dead, sir." "Sir, these are the names we're still trying to track down." " Ready, Higgins?" " Yes, sir." " Let's see, I think I'll stand here." " Hold it." "All right." "How do I look?" "Very good, sir." " Yeah." " There you are, sir." "The baton is quite dramatic." "Very good, sir." "My uncle is a general." "He would be able to help you." "Come here." "Don't look at them." "Don't make eye contact." "I used to come here as a girl." "My uncle would tell me giants lived in these mountains." "It's gonna be fine." " Yeah?" " Yeah." "Ah, Aya-Chan..." "Welcome." "It's a pleasure." "Please, come in." "Follow me." "Your Japanese is very good." "So is your English." "You're surprised?" "I served two years at the Japanese embassy in Washington," "Military Attaché." "Please sit down." "I'm sorry." "It fascinated me." "These are my sons." "Eiji, Akio." "What binds you Americans together, beyond the colors of your flag?" "You see, Colonel, you will never understand complete devotion to one set of values." "Your culture is much older and deeply rooted, and I hold it in the highest regard." "And yet... you are trying to undermine it with your oil embargo." "We'll speak of that tomorrow." "Tonight, we drink more sake." "Please." " Would you like..." " Yes." "My niece tells me you are writing a paper on the mind of the Japanese soldier." "Yes." "You have much to learn." "Most of my books on the Japanese army are in Japanese, but some are in English, French, and Russian." "You're welcome to read them." "The English ones are here." "If I may, what role does the Emperor play in the mindset of the Japanese soldier?" "Above all else," "His Majesty is the reason the Japanese soldier is superior to the American soldier in his sense of duty." "If we fight the United States, we will win because we follow his divine will." "I want to know who amongst these men works inside the Imperial Palace." "These two, sir." "The most influential, I'd say, Vice Minister Sekiya." "Call his office." "It's after 9:00, General." "Call tonight." "Call first thing in the morning." "Send a messenger, and then call again." "Yes, sir." "General?" "Yes, Fellers?" "Here's what we got, sir." "Vice Minister Teizaburo Sekiya, a high palace official." "Now, his office is in the Palace." "I've reached out to him through every official channel." "I know your order was not to use weapons against the Palace." "My order is not to use weapons, nor force of any kind." "There will be a time when the Emperor will have to come to me, and he will come to me." "We're talking about the Vice Minister, sir." "I need access to him, but I can't just walk in there." "The Imperial Guards are trained to defend the grounds to the death." "Find another way." "I have, sir." "Request an extension from Washington." "We are going to meet their goddamn deadline, and if you can't do it, I'll find someone who can." "Then I require weapons, General." "I'll give you a weapon." "Prepare a letter for my signature now." "Yes, sir." ""To the Imperial Household," ""as Supreme Commander of all Allied forces," ""I order you to allow Brigadier General Bonner Fellers" ""to enter the Imperial premises" ""to meet with Vice Minister Sekiya immediately." "Signed, Supreme Commander, et cetera."" "You may take a small contingent solely for your personal protection." "Now, go on." "Yes, sir." "Please, sir, you don't understand." "I understand." "General." "Sir." "This needs to be arranged, General Fellers." "I'm going to arrange it right now." "Tell him we are here under the order of the Supreme Commander, General Douglas MacArthur." "I need to be in a room with Vice Minister Sekiya in ten minutes." "Tell him!" "MacArthur." "Just you." "No weapons." "Wait here." "Yes, sir." "It would be very helpful to see something that reflects the Emperor's state of mind before and during the war." "His Majesty does not record his personal feelings and memories." "Did he write any letters, messages to military or political leaders regarding the war?" "This is my own private record of a crucial Imperial Council meeting three months before the war began." "The Emperor broke all precedent by unexpectedly addressing the ministers directly." "His Majesty recited a gyosei written by his grandfather." "Atanka poem?" "Yes." "It says, "it is our hope" ""that all the world's oceans be joined in peace." ""So why do the winds and waves now rise up in an angry rage?"" "That's not a strong vindication of the Emperor, sir." "It was an extraordinary act of courage for His Majesty to recite it at that meeting." "The Emperor does not express himself directly, as most men do." "Well, I'm going to express myself very directly, because 2,000 years of your national identity are on the line." "Did the Emperor order the attack on Pearl Harbor?" "As I said, His Majesty recited a tanka poem written by his grandfather." "I'll be happy to recite it again for you, General." "If you want to save the Emperor from being deposed and put on trial..." "I'm gonna need more, Mr. Vice Minister, and I'm gonna need it soon." "General Fellers!" "Leave me alone." "You are bleeding." "Please, General, come with me." "Why?" "You want to give me that list, Takahashi?" "The list of the dead." "I don't have it, sir." "Then go home." "Don't you have a family to go home to?" "Here, you should add that its roots are in religious traditions and can be traced back to Shinto." "If you understand devotion, you will understand Japan." "There are two Japanese words you should know." ""Tatemae, " the way things appear," ""honne, " the way they really are." "When you look at Japan, you see the most modern and Westernized of Asian countries," "but that is a tatemae, the surface." "And the honne?" "It is the true heartbeat of my country, which is more than 2,000 years old." "It has nothing to do with the West." "Japan runs on the ancient warrior code of loyalty and obedience." "After an exhaustive review," "I can find no evidence exonerating the Emperor." "As Head of State, Hirohito cannot sidestep war guilt." "I have no choice but to conclude that he is part of, and must be considered an instigator of the Pacific war." "His arrest and trial may cause significant internal unrest, but it is necessary." "General Fellers, good news." "What?" "What time is it?" "Midnight, sir." "Kido wants to talk to you." "I'm going to bed." "You don't understand, sir." "I found Kido." "I'm not doing this anymore." "Tomorrow I'll tell MacArthur I couldn't give him his miracle." "But he is here, sir!" " Kido's here?" " Yes." "Where?" "He is coming up." "General Fellers." "Hate to disturb you at this hour, sir." "Aya Shimada." "She's from a prominent semi-noble family just outside Shizuoka City." "Her father is a major landholder." "They were at college together in America." "Now, we know he visited her in Japan." "These are the dates he was here." "There were no prohibitions against traveling to Japan before the war." "Forgive me, sir, but plain and simple, he's a Jap lover." "That's the worst you have?" "No, sir." "The worst is right here." "Fellers had direct input into the selection of targets in Japan for Allied bombing raids from August 1942 to July 1945." "And he attempted to steer planners away from targets in Shizuoka, near where Aya Shimada frequently worked as a teacher." "Excellent work, General." "I'll hold on to these for now." "By all means, sir." "And I will see to it that you are rewarded for your dedication, Richter." "Just doing what's right, sir." "Carry on." "You understand, this is sensitive." "Certain people won't appreciate my speaking with you." "On August 9th, the Supreme Council convened at midnight to discuss whether or not to surrender." "Fires burned throughout the city." "Three chief ministers from the council spoke against the surrender." "The Foreign Minister, the Navy Minister, the President of the Privy Council wanted to surrender." "It was three to three, deadlock." "And how did they break the deadlock?" "The Emperor began to speak." ""I trust the Allies," he said." ""I want to accept their terms." ""I wish you all to agree with me."" "The War Minister, Anami, begged the Emperor..." ""You must not surrender."" "The Emperor repeated," ""I wish you all to agree with me,"" "and then he left the room." "And what about the fanatics in the army?" "What happened'?" "What about them?" "His Majesty knew they would keep fighting, so he decided to broadcast his wishes to the people." "He made a recording, and we were ready to send it to Radio Tokyo for broadcast." "What time was that?" "At 11 P.M." "Suddenly..." "A thousand soldiers attacked the Palace." "They all came at once?" "Six different times." "They were looking for the recording." "They were also coming to kill me." "And I believe they would have killed His Majesty." "We hid together in a basement room." "They never found us, or the recording." "At 8:00 A.M., General Tanaka arrived and stopped the soldiers, and many of the officers shot themselves." "Then General Tanaka went into his room and shot himself." "Hours later, the recording was broadcast, and the whole nation heard the Emperor tell them in his own voice that Japan had accepted the Allies' terms." "I need proof that this happened the way you just told me." "All records were destroyed, and many witnesses killed themselves." "You can believe me or not, but that is the true story of how Japan surrendered." "I only have his word." "How do I know it's not blind loyalty to the Emperor?" "Can I take you, sir?" "I'll be all right." "I do want to apologize for the things that I said." "No need, sir." "You don't have a family, do you, Mr. Takahashi?" "My wife died in one of the first raids to hit Tokyo." "How did you cope?" "I didn't." "I thought I would die, too." "You must go." "The police are starting to round up Americans." "Our countries will soon be at war." "The car will take you." "They are watching the trains." "Where's Aya?" "You're putting Aya at risk." "You must never see her again." "No." "You can't do this." "What you want is impossible." "Go." "I need to say something to you." "I commanded troops." "Yes." "I looked up your record." "You were at Saipan, Okinawa." "Bloody battles." "We did our duty, but we lost our humanity." "You must understand, we Japanese are a selfless people, capable of immense sacrifice because of our complete devotion to a set of ideals." "We are also ruthless warriors, capable of unspeakable crimes" "because of that same complete devotion." "I cannot tell you if the Emperor is guilty or innocent." "I don't know if he brought us to war." "But he has brought us to peace." "He made a brave decision against intense pressure." "I know you would do the same." "They were written for you." "You gave me such happiness, but life is not so simple." "I hope someday you will understand that I only ever had one choice." "In the end, I am where I belong, but my heart is with you always." "Yours, Aya." "She died with honor." "It is a fundamental American concept that the people of any nation have the inherent right to choose their own government." "Were the Japanese given this opportunity, they would select the Emperor as their symbolic head of state." "In effecting our bloodless occupation, we requisitioned the services of the Emperor." "By his order, seven million soldiers laid down their arms." "Through his act, hundreds of thousands of American casualties were avoided." "His guilt or innocence in the prosecution of the war is unknowable." "But his decisive role in ending the war is beyond dispute." "If the Emperor were tried for war crimes, the governmental structure would collapse, and a general uprising would be inevitable." "There would be chaos and bloodshed." "It would take more than a million American servicemen to oversee the occupation for years to come." " Haul ass." " Sir!" "In conclusion, the people of Japan have suffered greatly, and it is in their interest beyond all other considerations that I strongly urge allowing the Emperor to continue on his throne as the leader of his people." "General Fellers." "Now hear this." "Now hear this." "Mine clearance is being conducted in the harbor." "All small craft should remain clear until further notice." "What the hell is this?" "The conclusion of my investigation, sir." "What investigation?" "This is just your opinion, Fellers." "I don't see any evidence." "I have no concrete evidence, sir, but it is what we must do." "Based on what, your vote of confidence?" "Based on the fact that we're here to rebuild Japan, and we will never" "I am about to make the biggest decision of the occupation, which will determine the future of Japan, and all I have is conjecture." "We will never know the extent of the Emperor's involvement, sir." "If we had a thousand years, we wouldn't know it." "We have to make up our minds." "I have made mine." "You want me to call Washington and tell them," "I'm making my decision because I trust General Fellers?" "No, sir." "You are making it because there's nothing that incriminates the Emperor, sir." "Sit down." "Sir, we promised Hirohito that Japan would retain the institution of the Emperor if he surrendered, and surrender he did." "We will never know who started the war, General, but we do know who brought it to an end." "There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that could compromise my situation if I were to absolve the Emperor?" "There is no evidence for nor against him, sir." "Fire in the hole!" "In that case, I want to meet him." "Meet who, sir?" "This monarch in who I am placing all of my faith." "Face to face?" "That's right." "Before I call Washington," "I want to meet him, shake his hand, look him in the eye, see what kind of man he is." "We can't extend a last-minute invitation to Hirohito, sir." "I'm not extending an invitation to anyone, Fellers, you are." "Sir." "You didn't bring me the proof, bring me the Emperor." "Then I request you postpone the call, sir." "We are going to meet their deadline, and we are going to meet it with aplomb." "We're a full day ahead, Fellers." "Today, here and now, is still yesterday in Washington." "His Majesty will not come." "If I may, sir, the Emperor won't come to headquarters, but he might come to MacArthur's home." "A social visit, then." "A cup of tea to save a 2,000-year-old dynasty." "His Majesty speaks and understands some English, but to avoid misunderstandings, all communication will be through his translator." "Sit down, Higgins." "Yes, sir." "His Majesty's image can only be recorded by a court-approved photographer from a distance." "His Majesty won't eat anything or drink anything during the visit." "Do you think we don't know how to show hospitality?" "Of course not, General Supreme Commander." "Supreme Commander will do." "You must understand, a Japanese Emperor has never called on a foreigner, so there are certain proprieties I'd better make you aware of." "You may not shake His Majesty's hand or touch him." "You must never look His Majesty directly in the eyes." "You may not step on his shadow." "When you sit down with His Majesty, you have to sit on his left." "You must never call His Majesty by his name." "I've never met an emperor before, much less a god." "What the hell do you say to a god?" "General, before you make your final decision, there's something you should know." "You asked if there was anything that could compromise your position." "It's all here." "I should have brought it to your attention before, sir." "Oh, yeah." "General Richter did his job with his usual thoroughness." "He brought these by the other night." "I steered planners away from targets to protect someone, sir." "Tell you what, Fellers... not a single American life was lost in this operation." "I don't see the point in rehashing it." "And what about General Richter?" "After careful consideration, I've come to the conclusion that General Richter can go piss up a rope." "General Bonner Fellers." "His Majesty says that it is a privilege to meet you, General Fellers." "He thanks you for your service to Japan." "Please, come in." "General MacArthur is waiting inside." "It is indeed a pleasure to welcome you here, Your Majesty." "Thank you." "And thank you." "We have arranged for a picture." "No, impossible." "His Maj" "His Majesty and I and his translator can have a talk here while the rest of you get acquainted in the library." "But that wasn't the plan." "Sekiya." "I come to you, General MacArthur, to offer myself as the one to bear sole responsibility." "I wish that the punishment will fall on me, not on Japan." "I appreciate that." "Please be seated." "This has nothing to do with punishment..." "Your Majesty." "I need your help." "So let's see what we can do to get Japan back on its feet." "Back to your hotel, sir?" "We never did have that drink, Takahashi." "Perhaps now would be a good time." "Yes."