World War II · Film · 2012
Emperor
In the first weeks of the American occupation, General MacArthur gives his Japan expert ten days to decide whether Emperor Hirohito should be tried for war crimes.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 3 places.
Stop 1: Atsugi airfield
MacArthur steps off his plane with his corncob pipe, and Fellers is handed the task of arresting the war leaders.
Stop 2: Tokyo, facing the Imperial Palace
Key location
In a bombed-out capital, Fellers interrogates the emperor's former advisers, hunting for proof of what Hirohito knew and did.
Stop 3: Shizuoka
Fellers drives to the ruined city looking for news of Aya, the Japanese woman he loved before the war.
What really happened
General Douglas MacArthur landed at Atsugi airfield on 30 August 1945, and Japan formally surrendered on 2 September. Brigadier General Bonner Fellers, his military secretary and a long-time student of Japan, argued that keeping Emperor Hirohito on the throne would make the occupation easier, and MacArthur shielded him from prosecution.
On 27 September 1945 Hirohito called on MacArthur at the US ambassador's residence in Tokyo, where the famous photograph of the two men was taken. The Tokyo war crimes tribunal later sentenced seven leaders, including Hideki Tojo, to death, but never charged the emperor. Fellers's Japanese love interest, Aya, and the search for her in Shizuoka are fiction.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- Emperor
- Directed by
- Peter Webber
- Countries
- United States, Japan
- Languages
- English, Japanese
- Released
- 2012
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- China & Southeast Asia
- Themes
- Politics
- True story
