Raid on the Imperial Palace

Tuesday, April 28th--The Imperial Palace in Tokyo has a really cool gift shop....but the only way to shop there is to go on the actual tour of the palace.  We wanted to get some souvenirs at this gift shop for some loved ones back home, so I tried to book another tour.  I could only secure one spot between now and when we go back to the states, so I went on the tour all by myself just so that I could get some things at the gift shop. 

It's a little warmer now compared to when we were here in March, and I found this lone bloom next to the feudal lord family symbols on the rock wall.....

....as well as enjoyed some other blooms on the grounds as I made my way through the palace grounds on the tour.

Since coming to the Imperial Palace in March, we have learned a little more about some of the cool things in history that happened here. 

The Japanese surrendered to America on August 10, 1945 to finally bring World War II to an end.  Not everyone, including Japan's War Council, was very happy with the surrender.

The emperor recorded an official Imperial Proclamation of the surrender and detailed what it meant for the country of Japan.  This recording was to be played across the radio waves so that the nation would be aware of the surrender and be able to hear it from their emperor's own lips.  This would be the first time that most of the country's citizens would have heard the emperor's voice.

The news of the upcoming surrender did not go over well, and on August 14th, more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers stormed the Imperial Household Agency building--remember the Imperial Palace had been destroyed in one of the many nightly bombings of Tokyo and this building was being used as the palace at this time--in an attempt to find the proclamation and prevent its being transmitted over radio. Think about that for a minute!  These soldiers were storming THEIR OWN castle to go against the wishes of the emperor--who they saw as a GOD!!  Fascinating!   Soldiers still loyal to Emperor Hirohito fought back against the attackers and a small battle took place.  When we came to the palace in March, we didn't know about this raid that took place on these very grounds--it was a battle over whether or not Japan should surrender to America. 

In spite of this raid that took place on these grounds, the emperor's recording was heard by Japan's citizens on August 15, 1945.  The four-minute radio address ended a war, obliterated the 20-year imperial ideology, and began Japan's rebirth into what it is today.  And on August 15, the emperor's voice—heard over the radio airwaves for the very first time—conveyed that Japan’s enemy “has begun to employ a most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is indeed incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives.” This was the reason given for Japan’s surrender.

Emperor Hirohito’s oral memoirs, published and translated after the war, recorded the emperor’s fear at the time that “the Japanese race will be destroyed if the war continues.”  As a family, we have talked about this decision primarily made by the emperor.  Surrendering is not the Japanese way....why did he surrender?  At this time, most of the citizens of this nation were starving, yet they were still deeply committed to the war effort.  They would have continued to fight and sacrifice as long as the emperor asked them to.  Why was Emperor Hirohito scared that the Japanese race would cease to exist?  We decided that it was because he knew this about his people.  He knew that the Japanese way is to never, ever surrender.  He knew that every last man, woman, and child would fight to the death for their country, for their emperor, for their honor.  And, he knew that the Americans would continue to drop more atomic bombs.  We decided that Emperor Hirohito surrendered out of love for Japan: its people and its way of life. 

On the evening of August 14th, after the raid on the palace to retrieve the recording proved unsuccessful, General Anami, the member of the War Council most adamant against surrender, committed suicide. His reason: to atone for the Japanese army’s defeat, and to be spared having to hear his emperor speak the words of surrender to the entire nation.
Most students in American schools are not taught about this raid on the palace to prevent the recording of the surrender from being played.  Most students in America are not aware of the Japanese culture and how dishonorable it was/is to surrender.
As I was walking through the tour of the palace for the second time, I kept thinking about the raid that happened at this very spot in an effort to prevent the end of the war.  I thought about the fighting that happened between Japan and the U.S.A. during World War II, and tried to better understand both sides of that conflict.  It was a solemn time to reflect.

When we got to the north doors of the Imperial Palace, I could barely make out a lit chandelier through the windows.  Being able to see a glimpse of the grandeur that is behind those doors was exciting.

The palace grounds are greener than they were in March....

....and spring has definitely arrived!

The Imperial Palace is truly a gem in Tokyo and in Japan's history.  It was very enjoyable to walk on these grounds again and bask in the beauty of this place.  It was also interesting to think about the raid that happened on this very spot in an effort to prevent Japan's surrender.  I was able to reflect on a part of World War II history that I have only recently become aware of. 

Pretty fascinating stuff!  How blessed we are as a family to be able to plant our feet on these spots and learn more about American history as we learn about Japan's history.

Demonstrations During Church

We go to church in the annex next to the LDS Tokyo Temple.  In the area are many embassies, and the China Embassy is just a few blocks from the temple.
One Sunday, I was sitting in Relief Society when all of a sudden, we could hear a large crowd in the street outside.  Someone was shouting into a bullhorn, and the crowd was angry.  Because they were speaking in Japanese, most of us in the room could not understand what they were shouting about.
I must admit, I got really scared, and so did several of the other women in the room.  My husband was in the next room, and my children were all scattered in various Sunday School classes in the floors below. (The annex is 5 floors total.)  I didn't know what the crowd wanted or if they would try to come into our church building....I just started to make a plan in my head for how I was going to quickly find all of my children and get them safe.
The kids also heard the shouting in their classes and became alarmed.  They told me later that their teachers told them what to do so that they would be safe and went on quietly with their lessons so as to try and keep all of the children calm.  We were all pretty scared--except for Raymond.  He could understand what the crowd was shouting about and knew that it didn't have anything to do with us....they were walking past the temple/church toward the Chinese Embassy to protest its existence in Japan.
The political situation between Japan and China hasn't been very good since WWII, and often a group will coordinate a protest against the Chinese Embassy having a presence in Tokyo.  Most of the Japanese people that we know do not agree with these protests and told us that it is very embarrassing for them.  They told us that these people do not adequately represent the feelings of the majority of the population.  They are a loud minority.  We have loud minorities in America, too, so we understand what our Japanese friends are trying to explain to us.
These protests have happened a couple of times during our Sunday church meetings, and even though we now know that they are in regards to the Chinese Embassy and not the Mormon church, it has still been unnerving to us as a family because of the history of the LDS Church.
The kids are aware of our church's history of persecution.  Throughout most of the 19th century, families who belonged to our church endured horrible atrocities simply because they were Mormon.  Last summer, we traveled to Nauvoo, Illinois for our summer vacation.  The city of Nauvoo was formed by Mormons and they were driven from it in 1845 and fled to the Rocky Mountains where they could finally worship how they wanted to in peace.  The kids were able to walk on the streets of Nauvoo and learn about our church's history there.  We found the plots of land that both mine and Raymond's ancestors owned as farms.  We talked to the kids about their heritage and how their ancestors were forced to leave their farms in Nauvoo and had to cross the plains and make a new home in Salt Lake City, Utah.  We honored our ancestors for their bravery and determination to carry on in their faith in spite of persecution and really, really hard trials.
While we were able to gain a deeper understanding of who we are and where we came from as a family and as Mormons during our time in Nauvoo, it became very real to us during that first protest when all we could hear were angry shouts from a mob outside of our church building and we didn't know why they were there.  We felt the very real emotion of panic and fear during the first few moments of the protest.  Here we are--foreigners and Christian, with an angry mob outside of the church building.  Nothing happened, but the kids and I--and several others in our ward--felt a little slice of the sheer terror that one feels when you think an angry mob is coming to persecute you and your family.  It helped us to better understand what our ancestors must have felt when the angry mobs approached their beloved city of Nauvoo and forced them out at gunpoint.
The second time the protesters went by our church, we were just getting ready to sing the opening hymn in Relief Society.  The chorister told us to sing so loud that we would drown out the shouting of the large crowd outside.  We don't have a piano, so it was just our voices against their's.  We sang loudly of Christ and love and we were able to drown out their angry shouts.  This reminded me that Satan's power is very real and very strong, but Christ's power IS and ALWAYS will be stronger. (Not that the protesters were evil--they aren't.  Their shouting was just scary to those of us inside of a Mormon church and their anger seemed to represent the evils of the world in my mind at that moment.)  Christ will always overcome evil. 
I don't think we will ever forget the protests that went on outside of our church building in Tokyo or how it made us feel.  It made us ever more grateful for our freedom to worship how and who we want.  What an awesome and sacred right that is.