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The Yamato Dynasty: The Secret History of Japan's Imperial Family
by Sterling Seagrave, Peggy Seagrave
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Broadway (2001-08-14)
ISBN: 0767904974
EAN: 9780767904971
Dewy Decimal #: 952.030922
Paperback: 424 pages
Release Date: 2001-08-14
SKU: 07060017
Condition: Like New As issued n
Comments: Paperback. Like new condition with no markings and no creases to spine or cover. Very slight wear to cover. Near fine copy.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
In The Yamato Dynasty, Sterling Seagrave, who divulged the secrets of Mao Tse-tung and the ruthlessness of Chiang Kai-shek in the New York Times bestseller The Soong Dynasty, and his wife and longtime collaborator, Peggy, present the controversial, never-before-told history of the world’s longest-reigning dynasty–the Japanese imperial family–from its nineteenth-century origins through today. In the first collective biography of both the men and women of the Yamato Dynasty, the Seagraves take a controversial, comprehensive look at a family history that crosses two world wars, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the American occupation of Japan, and Japan’s subsequent phoenix-like rise from the ashes of the Second World War. The Yamato Dynasty tells the story of the powerful men who have stood behind the screen–the shoguns and financiers controlling the throne from the shadows–taking readers behind the walls of privilege and tradition and revealing, in uncompromising detail, the true nature of a dynasty shrouded in myth and legend
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Amazon.com Review
Most Westerners will know next to nothing of the Yamato, Japan's current imperial family. Neither do most Japanese. Much of Japan's modern history has been erased from postwar textbooks, and a whole generation has grown up knowing nothing of the Rape of Nanking, Pearl Harbor, the Second World War death camps, and countless other atrocities. All that remains are Hiroshima and Nagasaki, symbols of Japan's eternal innocence. Sterling and Peggy Seagrave correct these falsehoods and expose the collusion and corruption that have been at the heart of the postwar Japanese economic miracle. And far from being a symbolic reminder of an ancient past, as the Japanese royal family is sometimes portrayed, the authors point out that it has been at the epicenter of venality and cruelty. Prince Chichibu, Emperor Hirohito's brother, turns out to have masterminded Golden Lily, the systematic looting of every country Japan occupied in the prewar years. Prince Yasuhiko was the brains behind the Rape of Nanking. And dear old Hirohito was so hands-on during the war that he could have halted Pearl Harbor. Moreover, the royal family was so comfortably in bed with the zaibatsu, the corporate ruling elite, that it made a fortune out of the war while the rest of the nation starved. That none of this has come out before is only partly due to Japanese revisionism. We, too, have to share the blame. We had the evidence to try some of the imperial family as war criminals, but we chose not to. The Seagraves' book makes uncomfortable reading for all concerned. --John Crace, Amazon.co.uk
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Customer Reviews
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Sidestepping Core Issue
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-06-02
2 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Many argue certain "truths" as you call them. The truths deemed so by personal prejudice and slant? For who did you choose to believe?
It is true that Hirohito was rescued from a War Criminal Fate, which he more than justly deserved. By who?????
It is true that "truths", records, are extremely scarce from that particular part of WWII, because the 'innocent' Hirohito knew to tell his fellow murderers to destroy them before anyone could get to them.
Is is true that the real "truths" there are the true flesh and blood survivors.
It is true that all citizens of the Dutch East Indies were, not only physically tormented, but their possessions plundered, including their bank accounts, and jewelry. And it wasn't 14k junk.
It is true that they have asked, and no one cares, all these years, what happened to those things.
It is true that there are a group of American South East Asia POW's who are called "The Bataan Bastards".
It is true that they are called that because they were, and still are, abandoned. And I bet that when they are all gone (on), there will be those who argue whether they told the truth.
It is true that they too ask, "When are we going to be compensated?"
With all these truths, and many more left out, why should I wonder for one moment, whether a person capable of known, and unknown, atrocities isn't also capable of wearing the 'wrong' uniform for some other sick reason.
Anyway, a crime(s) is committed and it has, and is, poo-pood away.
Those who can hear did hear already, and those who don't, well......
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HIRO-HITO/TSUTSUMI
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-05-30
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
A partir de mes nombreuses conversations entre 1980 et 1990 avec Kuniko TSUTSUMI fille de Yasujiro TSUTSUMI, avec laquelle je vivais à cette époque, tout ce qui concerne les relations de la famille impériale avec les Tsutsumi et le groupe SEIBU, tel que c'est relaté par cet ouvrage est exact.
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startling revelations
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-05-13
This book blames Gen. Douglas MacArthur for failing to reconstruct Japan during the occupation. According to the authors, Herbert Hoover and officials from J. P. Morgan & Co. prevailed on MacArthur to co-opt prosecution of war criminals and Japanese industrialists because Morgan & Co. wanted Japan to repay its pre-war loans. In return, MacArthur was to have financial backing for a run at the Presidency. The author accounts for the Emperor's rehabilitation on similar gounds and accuses the Imperial family of profiting from the looting of China, Souheast Asia and other territories occupied by Japan during the Pacific war. He attributes the speed of Japan's post-war recovery to the availability of looted assets for recapitalization. He provides an extensive narrative on the history of Japan's Imperial dynasties. And they explain why Japan has never fully compensated its victims for war crimes. This book will change your opinion about the way Japan, Inc. does business and is essential for that reason alone. It's an easy read in a style that belies its gravitas. And it will make you wonder where disinformation is coming from, from the author or his critics, and why.
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Great Book. Insightful. Intelligent. Important.
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-05-06
I though I knew a lot about Japan, Hirohito, and WWII, but this book was full of eye-opening surprises and behind the scenes details I had not come across before.
Atrocities are common in war time. Invaders, conquerers, and even liberators, almost always steal the treasure of the vanquished. The US took tons of Nazi gold and made no effort to give any of it back from the victims. So, we should not be surprised the US also partnered with Japan, to help Hirohito off the hook, and for a big share of the stolen loot: Billions of dollars in gold, diamonds...
Want to understand Japan's economic miracle? Where did they get the cash?
Want to better understand why that coward MacArthur (yea yeah, I know, he supposed to be a hero) conspired to let so many Japanese war criminals escape punishment?
Read this book.
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Ruffling Some Old Feathers
Rating (4)
Date: 2006-02-28
3 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
The Seagraves' outstanding works on Japan (The Yamato Dynasty, Gold Warriors) have not only attracted hit and run reviews, but the Seagraves themselves have endured personal wire-taps and death threats for their trouble.
When does a supposedly poorly researched book result in death threats? (See The Rape of Nanking, by the late Iris Chang; Dark Alliance, by the late Gary Webb, etc.) Is The Yamato Dynasty a book that no library should buy? Maybe it's simply one that the public simply must not read.
It's required reading, in fact, for anyone interested in how the one-party Japanese state came into being, perpetually mired by corruption, incompetence, and cronyism; how more than a dozen Asian countries were looted by Japan from 1895 to 1945; how upon learning of the immense treasure from OSS/CIA uber-spook Edward Geary Lansdale, President Truman decided to keep the matter secret. Rather than returning the money to improverished nations as partial war reparation for years of genocide, torture, and slave labor, instead Truman, MacArthur and Co. created a bottomless, covert political action slush-fund. Yes, every U.S. president since Truman is implicated in this documented and verifiable cover-up. Marginalizing this fact as fodder for "conspiracy buffs" misses the point, and helps perpetuate the fraud.
Specifically, YD traces the confluence of interests among Japanese corporate cartels, the royal family, the court, and Genro (ministers and handlers) from the Meiji period through the end of the Pacific war. Although a handful of militarist war-criminals took the fall for Hirohito and the sponsors of the Heavenly Throne (Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo and Yasuda, as well as newcomer Nissan), the Seagraves show in stark relief the nature and background of today's inept and unapologizing LDP-controlled Japanese government, and its support and collusion from covert elements among America's government and far-right.
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