No Place for Mavericks

At 6:30 on the morning of August 15, 1945, rebellious Japanese soldiers were ransacking the Household Ministry on the grounds of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, searching for the recording of the Emperor’s announcement that Japan would surrender. (It was scheduled to be broadcast at noon.) The War Minister, General Anami, had just committed seppuku, leaving a note apologizing to the Emperor for losing the war. The residences of the prime minister and the president of the privy council had been set ablaze by furious junior officers who didn’t want to quit. The Emperor and Empress were barricaded with a few chamberlains in the Imperial Library on the palace grounds.

At this critical moment the commander of the Eastern District Army, who was loyal to the Emperor, arrived at the palace to quell the disorders, and encountered an imperial chamber-lain en route across the grounds to the Household Ministry on an errand for the Emperor. What do you suppose they did?

At 6:30 on the morning of August 15, 1945, rebellious Japanese soldiers were ransacking the Household Ministry on the grounds of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, searching for the recording of the Emperor’s announcement that Japan would surrender. (It was scheduled to be broadcast at noon.) The War Minister, General Anami, had just committed seppuku, leaving a note apologizing to the Emperor for losing the war. The residences of the prime minister and the president of the privy council had been set ablaze by furious junior officers who didn’t want to quit. The Emperor and Empress were barricaded with a few chamberlains in the Imperial Library on the palace grounds.

At this critical moment the commander of the Eastern District Army, who was loyal to the Emperor, arrived at the palace to quell the disorders, and encountered an imperial chamber-lain en route across the grounds to the Household Ministry on an errand for the Emperor. What do you suppose they did?