| Bhäraté: | Well, Hirohito was not my hero. |
| Daiki: | Most people will probably never know the actual man behind the symbol. |
| Chariya: | It's meaningless to discuss the Japanese emperor without also considering the broader historical context. At the time of his life, some type of collision between Japan and the West seemed inevitable. |
| An-Yi: | That sounds like a glib endorsement of the atrocities perpetuated under Hirohito's name. |
| Bhäraté: | Fascism and colonialism have certainly caused unspeakable misery. The only point I would make is that we should not feel self-righteous: every civilization is guilty of misdeeds. |
| Chariya: | Yeaht Too many people points the finger at others for sins which, at some point in time, they have committed themselves. |
| Daiki: | On hindsight, Hirohito seems to have many of the contradictions inherent in all humans – just magnified on a bigger scale. At various times in his life, he was a militarist, shrewd politician, marine biologist, and a retiring old man. Was he not a mosaic? |
Whose hero was Hirohito Hironomiya?
Was he worth dying for?
Was he a puppet propped up by imperialists -
or point of a holy sword?
Once
God to sixty million
in dashing uniform
surrounded by tanks
Mitsubishi fighters
and gold chrysanthemums
Now
a tiny pot of ash
in an oversized grave -
that little Mickey Mouse lover
conquered half the world
for nearly a thousand days
Hear the author read this poem.
[288 K /.MP3 file]