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True, he did not have much power, but the fact is, Japan did not surrender until the Emperor told the people to. If he had not made his famous surrender speach, Japan would have kept fighting to the last person! Members of the military knew this, and tried to stop him. There was a fascinating documentary on this, it was actually one of the last B-29 raids, that set off a chain of events that saved Hirohito. Also, our leaders new that he had to stay alive to stop the killing. His symbolic leadership, gave us the peaceful transition, since many still thought he was a god.
Hi, I believe the documentary you are referring to is called, "The Last Mission: The Secret History of WWII's Final Battle." It is a fascinating, nail-bitting account of the last B-29 mission to bomb Japan that had, literally all during the flight to Japan, the crew waiting for a signal to not drop its bombs if Japan surrendered (after the two A-bombs had already been dropped) juxtaposed with the factious battles going on in Japan and with the Emperor over the surrender decision. I have no independent information on its historical accuracy, but it is a fantastic, gripping tale (right down to the out-of-gas, engine-backfiring, runway-on-the-edge-of-a-cliff landing of the B-29s back on Hawaii). Here is the link to it on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Mission-Secret-History/dp/0767907795