Nobuhito Takamatsu
From Citizendium - Reading time: 2 min
Also known as Prince Takamatsu, Nobuhito Takamatsu, (1905—1987) was the second-younger brother of Emperor Hirohito and an Imperial Japanese Navy officer, , specializing in communications and naval aviation, before 1945. Postwar, he was a philanthropist, art patron and goodwill ambassador; he served as president of the Japanese Red Cross Society. [1]
A 1924 graduate of the Japanese Naval Academy and Naval Staff College in 1936, he rose to the rank of naval captain, and was a close friend of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. [2]
Prewar[edit]
Ellis Zacharias, in 1931, was an official aide to the Prince and his wife when they toured the United States.[3]
A diary entry of 1933 described the army as in a "fascist mood", and he was concerned both that "90 percent of the national income now accrues to 10 percent of the people," and that naval power was unappreciated. [4] With the 1940 illness of his older brother, Prince Chichibu, he was the designated Regent for Hirohito. Like Chichibu, he was critical of Hirohito and supported the Tripartite Pact.[5]
Second World War[edit]
"Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the reports said, the Prince shared the doubts of some naval officers about the wisdom of going to war against the United States. After war was declared, Captain Takamatsu advocated a buildup in aircraft production. An eventual outgrowth of his campaign for better use of warplanes was a decision to send kamikaze pilots on suicide missions in an attempt to sink American warships. The Prince told the Japanese magazine Bungei Shunju in 1976 that after the American victory at the Battle of Midway in June 1942, 'I expected no chance of victory and tried to persuade many people to prepare for an early end to the war.' [1]
It was believed that the Zacharias broadcasts of 1945 "provided the ammunition needed by the peace party to win out against those who wanted to continue the war to the bitter end."[6]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Clyde Haberman (4 February 1987), "Prince Takamatsu of Japan Dies; Younger Brother of the Emperor", New York Times
- ↑ David Bergamini (1971), Japan's Imperial Conspiracy, Morrow, p. 1101
- ↑ ""Our Captain"", "The Rope Yarn", USS Salt Lake City (CA-25), 31 May 1941
- ↑ Herbert P. Bix (2001), Hirohito and the making of modern Japan, Harper Perennial, ISBN 978-0060931308, pp. 272-273
- ↑ Bix, p. 382
- ↑ David A. Pfeiffer (Summer 2008), "Sage Prophet or Loose Cannon? Skilled Intelligence Officer in World War II Foresaw Japan's Plans, but Annoyed Navy Brass", Prologue (U.S. National Archives)
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