Tale of two regions after World War II

On Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addresses the joint houses of the US Congress in Washington. That day is also the official birthday of the late Japanese Emperor Hirohito; were he alive (he died in 1989) he would be celebrating his 114th birthday. It is worth reflecting on the implications of the coincidence of these two events.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Japan was the only non-Western nation to become an industrial and imperialist power. This occurred under the reign of Hirohito's grandfather, Emperor Mutsuhito, who chose Meiji, which translates as "enlightened rule", as the name to symbolise his reign. In 1926 when Hirohito ascended the throne, Japan had already joined the ranks of the "great powers", through victories in successive wars against China (1894-95) and Russia (1904/05), and alliance with Great Britain (1902), as well as joining the allies in World War I (1914-18) and sitting at the Paris Peace Treaty, he chose Sh?wa, which translates as "peaceful harmony" for the name of his reign.

In the 20th year of his rule, 1946, looking back on the carnage Japan had wrought over China and all of East Asia through war and plunder in the preceding decade-and-a-half; it would have been difficult to imagine that Hirohito would die peacefully in his sleep more than 20 years later, outliving all the other major figures of World War II. Yet this phenomenon illustrates the crucial difference in the post-war settlement in Europe and in Asia.