Guilt
The guilt that should have been placed on Emperor Hirohito for war crimes is still being debated today. Although he was emperor and signed the military operations, it is unclear as to whether he signed them for his own reasons, whether he was ignored due to his lack of power within the government, or whether he was put under pressure by the military to sign the operations (more detail in "Military Operations" section). A scholar at the time had argues, "Hirohito is more guilty than his militarists. They believed in war as an instrument of national policy. He never believed in it. Yet he permitted himself to be prostituted to a policy which he considered disastrous to his country" (Price 193). The Japanese Constitution at the time, which was created by Hirohito's grandfather Emperor Meiji, had also stated "the emperor declares war, makes peace, and concludes treaties," which puts the pressure on Hirohito (Price 191). However, there were other people that advocated against Hirohito to be tried for war crimes, such as General Douglas MacArthur, due to his symbolic importance in the eyes of the Japanese people.