Japan's Imperial Conspiracy

Japan's Imperial Conspiracy is a nonfiction historical work by David Bergamini. Its subject is the role of Japanese elites in promoting Japanese imperialism and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere; in particular, it examines the role of Crown Prince and Emperor Hirohito in the execution of Japan's Imperial conquest, and his role in postwar Japanese society.

Controversial upon its publication, as well as in the years since, Bergamini concludes that the conventional conclusion of historical analyses – that the Imperial household was largely powerless and not culpable or particularly supportive of the imperial adventures, blame for which is assigned to military elites – is mistaken. Instead, he asserts that the internal political fighting necessary to gain support for imperialism was a long-premeditated plan supported by all sectors of the elite and especially by members of the imperial family.

The reason given as to why the American occupiers provided immunity for Crown Prince Hirohito, and furthermore allowed for the continuation of the institution of the Emperor, is that its support was sought for the purposes of fighting Communism and the nearby Soviet Russia. Bergamini, born in Tokyo and fluent in Japanese, draws his conclusion from a variety of novel sources, but gives prominence to his interpretation of various diaries kept by involved figures.

Reviews by both participants in the war, war tribunals, as well as historians, range from effusive praise (e.g. from Australian lawyer and Chief Justice of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East William Webb, The Associated Press, and The New York Times) to outright condemnation (e.g. from British Japanologist Richard Storry and American military historian Alvin Coox).