On September 2, 1945, an important surrender ceremony was being held on board the battleship "Missouri" moored in Tokyo Bay - the surrender of Japan! It was a day that will forever go down in history.
After the defeat of Japan, Setsuko Hara, known as the "First Goddess of Showa", was given to MacArthur by her beloved emperor. At this time, Setsuko Hara was 25 years old, while MacArthur was 65 years old.
MacArthur is a famous five-star general in the United States, and he presided over the surrender ceremony. In addition, he was also the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces in Japan, all of which worried the Japanese emperor.
In order to escape, the former high-ranking Emperor Hirohito repeatedly came to the door to intercede, but MacArthur did not seem to appreciate it, but humiliated him. In the end, it was not until the appearance of Setsuko Hara that the emperor turned the corner.
Yes, Emperor Hirohito also used a "peace" method: he gave Setsuko Harako, the "first goddess of Showa" in Japan, to MacArthur as a lover.
25 years old, in her youth, but because of this relationship, it completely ruined Setsuko Hara, and her ending is also embarrassing.
First, the "goddess" on the screen
On June 17, 1920, Setsuko Hara was born in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and her original name was Masae Aida. For Setsuko Hara's poor family and brother with eight siblings, parents always hope that their children will get ahead.
Setsuko Hara had high hopes from her parents because she read carefully and was very intelligent, and the articles she wrote at school were taken out of the journal many times. Later, due to the failure of her family's business, Setsuko Hara had to drop out of school. Setsuko Hara thought that she would spend the rest of her life in the ordinary, but she never thought that she would end up with a movie.
Because Setsuko Hara is handsome, responsive, and has a beautiful face, with the help of her brother-in-law Kumagai Hisatora as a director, she officially stepped into the entertainment industry.
Setsuko Hara on screen (left)
On April 15, 1935 (Showa 10), people first met "Setsuko" in her debut novel "Young People, Don't Hesitate", and since then, "Hara Setsuko" has also appeared on the streets of Japan as a stage name. That year, Setsuko Hara was 15 years old. The following year, Setsuko Hara was favored by German director Arnold Fink and wanted her to participate in a Japanese-German joint venture film promoting Nazis, but for various reasons, the shooting plan was stranded.
For Setsuko Hara, this is undoubtedly a black history, but it is precisely because of her experience that she became a hit and gradually gained a foothold in the Japanese entertainment industry.
During World War II, the Japanese side asked Setsuko Hara to participate in many films with the theme of militarism and the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" that catered to the political tastes of the time, and also made her a "peace ambassador" for Japan and Germany. For a time, Setsuko Hara became a superfemale star that everyone in Japan knows and no one knows.
Hara Setsuko
2. The past of the wind and moon of the original Setsuko
By propagating militarism and Nazi ideas, Setsuko Hara's drama path would become narrower and narrower, but in 1946, she participated in Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece "I Have No Regrets for Youth" and achieved a "successful transformation".
The film is set in the "Zorkan International Espionage Incident" and the "Takigawa Incident", both of which had a great impact and high attention in Japan at that time. On the screen, Setsuko Hara's performance was eye-catching, and her independence, intelligence and assertiveness, especially not attached to men, gained a high voice at the time.
For a time, Setsuko Hara became the representative of Japan's new image of postwar women. However, there is a saying called: drama is like life, life is like a play, what Setsuko Hara never dreamed of was that her fate was like rain hitting duckweed, and she could not be controlled by herself from beginning to end, and one day she would become someone else's plaything.
After the defeat of Japan, the emperor thought most about how to save the imperial family and how to save his own life, and all this life and death power was in MacArthur's hands. The emperor knew in his heart that MacArthur was born into a military family, and he was tough, and this time he came with the determination to severely punish the Japanese military and judge the emperor.
Since then, Emperor Hirohito has frequently asked to see MacArthur, gifts, and love, but the other party has never been moved, and the emperor has been in panic all day. Later, his confidant minister offered him a plan: the beauty plan. Throughout the ages, there has been a way that "heroes are sad and beautiful passes".
MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito It is worth mentioning that after the defeat, Japan, except MacArthur, together with all American soldiers, became Japan's "Emperor Taishang". In the early days of the U.S. military in Japan, at least 150,000 Japanese women were engaged in special service to the U.S. military, which was also part of the Japanese emperor's beauty plan.
The strategy has been decided, so where does the "beauty" come from? Who exactly should be chosen for this task?
MacArthur was over the age of the year and already had a wife, Jean Marie Faircroth, could the "beauty scheme" work for him, an aging man? The emperor also has no bottom in his heart. However, his first consideration was who to choose?
Under some "research", he asked people to find Hara Setsuko on the screen.
Setsuko Hara, who is in her 20s, is in full bloom, and when she appears in front of the emperor, the emperor thinks she is the right choice. Eventually, under the recommendation of the emperor, Setsuko Hara became the lover of the 65-year-old MacArthur as a "national gift". When MacArthur saw Setsuko Hara, he was also attracted by her beauty and instantly lost all concentration.
Although Setsuko Hara has no intention of doing this, she also knows that this is a political "peace", and how to do it is not up to her!
Third, the end of unmarried escape
In fact, judging from the fact that Setsuko Hara catered to Japanese militarism and participated in a series of films promoting militarism and Nazi themes, it is not surprising that she did not resist becoming MacArthur's lover, to some extent, she was loyal to the emperor and was willing to become someone else's plaything.
Setsuko Hara is an excellent actor, she can make MacArthur want to stop at any time, her "acting skills" that are imminent and want to get away make MacArthur fall in love quickly, and the two have lived a life of double accommodation and double flight.
Undoubtedly, the emperor's "peace-friendly" drama was successful, because Hara Setsuko's "beauty scheme" made the Japanese side obtain a lot of loose management policies from the United States. To the laughter of the Pomeranians, MacArthur even insisted on preserving the "emperor system" despite the joint opposition of other Allies. With his cooperation, the Japanese side successfully preserved the Constitution of Japan.
Network picture: Tokyo Trial
Some people put this great deed on Setsuko Hara's head, thinking that her dedication was glorious. Perhaps only the Japanese can do this absurd claim that they are reduced to playthings but are regarded as heroes. As the "number one war criminal" of Japanese fascism, Emperor Hirohito should be held responsible for the war crimes he committed. However, MacArthur, who was carried away by love, began to lobby the emperor everywhere in order to facilitate his own military reform of Japan.
As we all know, after the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Axis countries during World War II, its Führer Hitler committed suicide, and Italian Führer Mussolini also got his due end, but Hirohito died well. At this time, the official gave a simple explanation: because of the intervention of the United States, Emperor Hirohito was not tried. Since then, the Japanese imperial family has survived to this day.
MacArthur was transferred in April 1951, and Setsuko Hara, who was a lover, became an abandoned woman at the age of 31. However, in the process of dating MacArthur, Setsuko Hara did not give up her acting career. In the decades since, the closest to her is director Yasujiro Ozu, although the two are unmarried men and unmarried women, but they have never achieved positive results.
Akiko Hara, Yasujiro Ozu
In 1963, after the death of Yasujiro Ozu, Setsuko Hara gradually faded out of the film and television industry, until later, she hid next to the ancient temple, lived in the company of books all day long, lived in seclusion, and never married.
On September 5, 2015, the legendary "Showa Goddess" in Japan, 95-year-old Setsuko Hara, also ended her life.
When she was alive, someone asked Setsuko Hara how she thought of her past with MacArthur, but Setsuko Hara bluntly said that "no regrets", perhaps in her opinion working for the emperor is an honorable thing, but objectively speaking, her behavior does make people feel uncomfortable, especially for those countries and people who were brutalized by Japanese invaders in World War II, and her role as an accomplice will never change.