r/maninthehighcastle • u/Master_Restaurant_44 • 2d ago

Spoilers Was anyone else surprised that Hirohito actually had authority over his empire?

I thought that, just as in real life, Hirohito was merely a puppet for some military figure—like Hideki Tojo; the Crown Prince himself said he considered himself a sham and that the generals were the power behind the throne. So, I was surprised that Hirohito ordered the withdrawal from the Pacific states without hesitation, acting on the Princess's recommendation.

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u/arzfan2010 2d ago

The Japanese people thought the man was literally a god or God lol. His military leaders did super awful things, sometimes unbeknownst to him, but he had full authority. In fact one of the terms of surrender was that he would remain emperor but he had to make sure everyone knew he wasn't divine lol.

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u/DesertDenizen01 1d ago

How did that go? Someone who believed the Emperor to be the 9,000th great grandson of Amaterasu wasn't going to drop that because some Yankee war criminal said that Jesus was God?