Why is hirohito Japan's national leader?

[Sunforged General]

From my understanding, even though the Emperor was considered a living god, he had only nominal power in politics, while various government ministers and generals and admirals wielded most of the true power. So shouldn't Hirohito be like King Victor Emmanuel III is in Italy? Not the national leader but is a national spirit that offers a small boost to stability or war support? Then if you choose to take the national focus that gives Hirohito political power, then he becomes national leader.

 

[ThaHoward]

He had more power and saying than what post-war myths said. His role was downplayed so that he could remain head of state, making for a stable Japan that did not fall under communist sphere - or so US policymakers believed.

He held much more power than European monarchs.

 

[Bunnytob]

In terms of gameplay, it might be because having him as a leader allows for easier transitions away from his whacking great stability boost. It wouldn't make much sense to go from a +60% national spirit to a +50% national spirit on the democratic path.
Also, the other de facto/de jure leaders changes so much it's just easier to follow if Hirohito's the head of Japan.

 

[kettyo]

I think his consent was necessary for practically everything so even if he didn't lead the government itself the government couldn't do anything he would oppose. So it's something like a double leadership i'd say.

 

[Sublime Sultan]

Considering that Japan had more than 15 different prime ministers in the game's time frame, it might be more convenient to have Hirohito as the leader. But I would like to see a prime minister mechanic like shown in the Turkish live stream.

 

[vaan24]

The prime minister mechanic can use for France too (Make Albert Lebrun as leader)

 

[Fulmen]

Coolness value, that's about it. I don't agree with it either, but that's the way PDX wanted it. Shrug.

EDIT: Come think of it, by comparison to now, the game shipped with barely any unique portraits; most countries on the map didn't even have unique portraits for their leaders. Maybe they did this also to avoid having to represent the various PMs Japan had within the game's time frame.

 

[Jimmyfeellucky]

Tenno heika banzai!!!

 

[Dlin369]

Probably just to reduce the amount of portraits they need for Japan's HoS. Waking the Tiger was made before some of the later focus trees where they really expanded the number of leaders each country can get for each path.

 

[him_15]

Because Japan had so many prime ministers at that period.

 

[GrounchoVilla]

Because Japan had so many prime ministers at that period.

Just to illustrate, a 21 yr time period vs a 42 year time period

 

[Indyclone77]

Hirohito is the most recognizable leader and saves the continual roundabout of Prime Ministerial changes that Japan experienced at the time.

 

[Alpha2518]

Well we also need to consider the dysfunctional Japanese government structure. Dan Carlin talks about this in his Supernova in the East I podcast in how and why the Japanese made their government after Perry forcibly opened them. They essentially followed a Russian Model but instead of having the Emperor be appointed by a god to rule on his behalf, they went one step further and then made him a god. They then had a constitution with parts of government with various responsibilities. Interestingly enough the emperor in the constitution was invested with supreme power over everything with the ability to cut through red tape and get things moving. Which resulted in a form of mixed constitutional-absolute monarchy according to one of Dan Carlin's sources. Which is weird, but also true since at least the emperors supreme authority is constitutionally mandated.

So the emperor is basically the Hulk, but he doesn't transform into the Hulk that often. Dan Carlin said this might be because there are rules and expectations (the kind not written down) in how the emperor is supposed to act that is binding in just a way as the constitution is in their culture at the time and before then. And if you were to know about these kind of things you had to have your cultural settings set to the Japanese frequency to get and understand them.