part of the surrender was the admission, including by the emperor himself, that the emperor was fully human and not divine. he died while i was in japan, and his death was not announced to the people for a week or two. even wikipedia says he died january 7, 1989. that simply is not so. he died in december 1988, and the english-language newspapers of japan carried that news, so i knew it (i can't read much japanese, certainly not enough to read a newspaper!) but the japanese-language papers said he was doing fine! the new year is a big deal in japan and the powers-that-were didn't want to ruin it for everyone, so they lied. even as late as that, some older japanese people believed the emperor was divine. his death must have come as a terrible shock to them. his son, no spring chicken himself, is on the throne now. as far as i know, no one considers him divine.

g