The Yamato Dynasty: The Secret History of Japan’s Imperial Family
Sterling Seagrave

Bantam Press 1999. Hård pärm 424 sidor. Innehåller bildbildgor. Mycket gott skick.
ISBN 0593044827

The main entrance to the Kyoto Palace, ancient home of the Japanese imperial family, is called the Door to Heaven. How the emperors fell from heaven is a story that crosses two world wars, the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the American occupation of Japan, and Japan's phoenix-like rise from the ashes of the Second World War.

In an authoritative new biography that is also a compelling narrative, Sterling Seagrave reveals the secret history of Japan's imperial family, from Emperor Meiji in 1852 to the present day. The author's research has brought to light new evidence that points at the implicit involvement of Hirohito, and other members of the imperial family's inner circle, in the war crimes of the Second World War. Also revealed here for the first time is the full scale of the Japanese looting operation, code-named 'Golden Lily', 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.

At the end of the war came the American occupation of Japan, under the leadership of General Douglas MacArthur. America had long had a stake in Japan; huge loans and business investments dating from before the war now hung in the balance. MacArthur's intentions were simple: to protect American investment and to prevent Japan's fall into communism. At the centre of this was the necessity to keep Hirohito on the throne even at the cost of complete exoneration from all culpability in war crimes. To do this it was necessary to shift blame to others, and Sterling Seagrave provides documentary evidence that MacArthur and his men deliberately suborned the major war crimes witnesses, telling them what to say in their court testimony.

Through all this moved the imperial family, and the men behind the screen, those powerful shoguns and financiers who have controlled the throne from the shadows. In The Yamato Dynasty Sterling Seagrave takes us behind the walls of privilege and tradition and reveals, in uncompromising detail, the true nature of a dynasty shrouded in myth and legend.