Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan (118 page)

Kido, the quintessential backstage man, who once was as great an admirer of T
j
as the emperor, had played the key role in T
j
's downfall. Yet during the tenure of T
j
's successor, Gen. Koiso Kuniaki, Kido continued to support the prowar factions of the army and navy, as did the emperor. T
j
's dismissal, in other words, did not reflect an intention on the part of either the emperor or Kido to end the war.

The emperor's view of the war became less sanguine after T
j
's downfall. Nevertheless, knowing full well that B-29s would soon be bombing Tokyo, both he and Kido remained unwilling to even consider an early peace effort. The same was true of many senior statesmen who participated in “peace maneuvers” around Prince Konoe.
¹⁰⁷

Politically, however, Hirohito's dismissal of T
j
signaled a profound shift. In the autumn of 1941, at the time of the decision to broaden the war by attacking Pearl Harbor, the emperor's chief political adviser, Kido, had been instrumental in forming a loose alliance between the court group and some senior statesmen on the one hand, and the prowar forces composed of the military elites, “renovationist bureaucrats,” and top leaders of the business world on the other.
¹⁰⁸
U.S. ambassador Grew had never even imagined such a grouping. As for Konoe, he had stepped down from office prior to T
j
's appointment, becoming an opponent of war with the United States and Britain (though not, of course, publicly so).
¹⁰⁹
Now, almost three years later, T
j
's resignation brought Konoe and the men around him, representing the most powerful interests in all the key areas of Japanese life, back to the political stage. Not enchanted by the mystique of the throne, possessed of a realistic insight into Japan's military predicament, and able to influence members of the court group and the imperial family, Konoe was ready to take the initiative in trying to break out of the hopeless war by exerting influence on members of the court group and the imperial family.