The Yamato Dynasty: The Secret History of Japan's Imperial Family - Hardcover

Seagrave, Sterling; Seagrave, Peggy; Seagrave. Sterling

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0767904966 ISBN 13: 9780767904964

Publisher: Bantam Dell Pub Group, 2000

Synopsis

An intriguing portrait of the world's longest-reigning dynasty offers a provocative look at the shoguns, emperors, and financiers who have secretly controlled Japan, bringing to light controversial facts about members of the Yamoto family and how their actions have affected the past, present, and future of the world's second largest industrial power. $25,000 ad/promo.

About this title

Review

There are times when the British Royal family doesn't seem quite so bad. There may have been the odd Nazi sympathiser in the past and the present bunch might be out of touch but they've along way to go before they hit the depths of their Japanese counterparts. The chances are that most Westerners will know next to nothing of the Yamato, Japan's current imperial family, whose dynasty began with Emperor Meiji in 1852. In which case, we have something in common with the Japanese. Most of Japan's modern history has been erased from the post-war text books and a whole generation has grown up knowing nothing of the Rape of Nanking, Pearl Harbor, the Second World War death camps and countless other atrocities. All that remains are Hiroshima and Nagasaki, symbols of Japan's eternal innocence.

Sterling Seagrave corrects these falsehoods and exposes the collusion and corruption that have been at the heart of the post-war Japanese economic miracle. And far from being symbolic reminders, atableau vivant (just), of an ancient past as the Japanese royal family is sometimes portrayed, Seagrave points out that it has been at the epicentre of venality and cruelty. Prince Chichibu, Emperor Hirohito's brother, turns out to have been the mastermind behind Golden Lily, the systematic looting of every country Japan occupied in the pre-war years. Prince Yasuhiko was the brains behind the Rape of Nanking. And dear old Hirohito was so hands-on during the war that he could have halted Pearl Harbor. Moreover, the royal family were so far in bed with the zaibatsu, the corporate ruling elite, that it made a fortune out of the war while the rest of the nation starved.

That none of this has come out before is only partly due to Japanese revisionism. We, too, have to share the blame. We had the evidence to try some of the Imperial Family as war criminals, but we chose not to. So, Seagrave's book makes uncomfortable reading for all concerned. --John Crace

From the Back Cover

The Yamato Dynasty takes us behind the walls of privilege and tradition and reveals, in umcompromising detail, the true nature of the Japanese imperial family - a dynasty until now shrouded in myth and legend - and the powerful shoguns and financiers who control the throne from the shadows.

Sterling and Peggy Seagrave bring to light new evidence that points to the implicit involvement of Hirohito, and other members of the imperial family's inner circle, in the war crimes of the Second World War. Moreover, and shockingly, the American occupying force after the war were aware of this but deliberately protected Japan's elite family to guard US investments in Japan and prevent Japan's fall into communism. The Seagraves here supply documentary evidence that General MacArthur and his men ensured that the major war crimes witnesses would completely exonerate Hirohito from all culpability in war crimes and shift the blame to others.

They also reveal for the first time the full scale of Kin No Yuri, 'Golden Lily', the looting operation that removed many billions of dollars' worth of gold, platinum, diamonds, art, religious artefacts and other treasures from a dozen occupied countries during the war, and the fate of these hidden assets after 1945.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Dell Pub Group
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0767904966
• ISBN 13: 9780767904964
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 394