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In 1945, with the growing anti-fascist righteous forces and two mushroom clouds falling from the sky in Hiroshima, Japan, the Japanese announced their unconditional surrender.
People see the hope of dawn in the long night of war.
As one of the defeated countries of fascism, Japan's leader Emperor Hirohito naturally had to face the liquidation and sanctions of the International Court of Justice like Hitler and Mussolini.
But who expected that he successfully covered up his crime and obtained amnesty with a trick of "beauty scheme".
So, who exactly is the woman who helped Emperor Hirohito?
What is even more surprising is that even MacArthur, the then general of the US Army in Japan, became her subordinate.
As a five-star general in the US Army, he may never have imagined that he would one day lose under the hands of a Japanese woman...
Will be a tiger and become famous in a battle
Marx, the great spiritual leader of the proletariat, once said such a thing; "Life is like the ocean, only those who are strong-willed can reach the other side."
And that's exactly what happened.
The Second World War, the most far-reaching war in modern chronicles, was unprecedented.
But troubled times produce heroes.
When it comes to life and death, there are always some people who dare to be the first.
Many famous military generals gradually appeared in people's eyes, including MacArthur.
Douglas MacArthur was born in a barracks in Little Rock, Arkansas, on January 26, 1880.
The MacArthur family itself was very prominent.
They are a bloodline of the Scottish Cabell family.
Even the legendary King Arthur is a bit related.
His grandfather, Arthur MacArthur Sr., immigrated to the United States with his family after the Battle of Waterloo.
He served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
His father, Arthur MacArthur Jr., also became famous at a young age and participated in the famous American Civil War.
At the age of 19, he rose to the rank of colonel with great ability and was appointed military governor of the Philippines.
By the generation of Douglas MacArthur, it can be said that three generations became famous.
MacArthur was born in the barracks and played, learned, and grew up in the barracks.
With his father's military transfer, he lived in Fort Wengget, Seldenburg, and Leavenworthburg.
In 1886, MacArthur Sr.'s troops were transferred to Fort Leavenworth.
The transportation here is convenient, and the city's infrastructure is relatively perfect.
MacArthur also began the year and received his education.
Because of his father's relationship, he could see fully armed cavalry drills and artillery live-fire drills from an early age.
The nearby town is also home to many veterans who have retired from the real battlefield.
After completing his studies, MacArthur loved to listen to veterans talk about the bullets of the real battlefield.
As he listened, his mind began to float.
If you were really in the battlefield, what kind of person would you become?
Childhood experiences planted a small seed in the heart of little MacArthur.
In the near future, this will grow into a towering tree.
After returning west, MacArthur was sent by his father to the West Texas Military Academy.
The students here are all "officer candidates".
MacArthur, who is usually mischievous, is also like a fish in water, and he has studied hard in such an environment.
Perhaps as the saying goes, dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes give birth to phoenixes, and the son of a mouse will make holes.
MacArthur soon came out on top of his classmates.
He not only has excellent academic performance, but also achieved good results in other comprehensive quality competitions.
What's more, MacArthur had a high emotional intelligence and was very fond of him by classmates and teachers.
But he didn't stop there.
At this time, it already had a longer-term goal - to go to West Point.
At that time, West Point was dedicated to providing top military talent for the U.S. military.
Naturally, it has a high threshold for admission and very difficult exams.
Fortunately, with his mother's company, MacArthur was very well prepared.
In the end, he won the acceptance letter in one fell swoop and became a member of the West Point Military Academy as he wished.
However, when he entered the school, MacArthur learned that West Point was not so glamorous at all.
It has a bad tradition of senior students bullying new students.
And MacArthur, as the "second generation of the army", suddenly became a thorn in the side of others.
At that time, the methods used by which seniors bullied new students could be described as varied.
Standing in a military position, piping hot steam baths, forced eating, etc...
It was in this inhuman torture that MacArthur developed a strong will.
MacArthur
At the time of graduation, MacArthur's overall average score was 98.14, the best since West Point was founded a hundred years ago.
This record has not been broken to this day.
After graduation, like most people, the first thing he faced was the problem of choosing a military class.
At first, MacArthur thought that it was better to follow in his father's footsteps and go to the infantry unit.
The experienced MacArthur Sr. dissuaded him from doing so, because the promotion was too slow, while the engineer was promoted quickly.
In this way, MacArthur followed the advice and finally chose the engineering corps.
By that time, the Spanish-American War had ended and Filipinos were pursuing independence.
And the United States did not want to see such a situation and began to organize the War of Independence.
In this environment, MacArthur embarked on a ship to the Philippines and accompanied the troops to carry out survey work.
The following year, the Russo-Japanese War broke out.
Japan went to war undeclared, and eventually Russia's defeat caught the attention of the United States.
It was at this time that MacArthur became interested in the development of Asia.
He was assigned to serve as his father's staff officer.
Father and son made a profound investigation of Japan's national conditions, and later unanimously determined that Japan's intention to expand and attack was very obvious.
In the future, it will definitely take the initiative to launch a war to control the Pacific.
After hearing this speculation, the US authorities immediately asked them to expand the scope of their investigation to China, Southeast Asia and other Asian regions.
After a nine-month trip to the Far East, MacArthur gained an in-depth understanding of all of Asia.
This paved the way for him to dominate the Pacific War and become a veritable "Emperor Taishang".
On July 28, 1914, the First World War broke out.
At that time, the United States did not want to participate in this war, but only wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to get rich and provide loans, weapons, etc. to both countries.
It was not until the end of the war, when countries such as Britain and France were about to win, that the United States joined the melee.
As a result, MacArthur became famous in the war.
At that time, he often led the way, and even personally captured a German colonel and was awarded a crusader.
After World War I, he was appointed commander of the Rainbow Division.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched the attack on Pearl Harbor, which began the Pacific War during World War II.
At that time, the coalition forces, with the United States as the main combat force, were at war with Japan in the Philippines.
However, because MacArthur underestimated the enemy, resulting in strategic mistakes, the US army suffered heavy losses and retreated.
On the night of March 11, 1942, under harsh realities, MacArthur boarded a torpedo boat and left the Philippines.
At that time, he left behind the most famous phrase of World War II: "I will return."
Later, MacArthur did what he promised.
After the Battle of Midway in 1942 and the Guadalcanal Campaign in 1943, the Allies began to shift from strategic defense to strategic offensive.
At that time, MacArthur's island-crossing "jumping frog tactic" played a surprisingly successful role.
The Allies managed to avoid the Japanese stronghold and cut off their supply lines, starving the Japanese to death on the battlefield.
Thus, the Allied counterattack began.
In 1944, MacArthur led his troops to resolutely attack the Japanese army along the offensive line of that year.
It's just that at this time, the roles have been reversed.
On Leyte Island in the Philippines, MacArthur delivered his most powerful speech in the heavy rain: "Filipino people, I, five-star general Douglas MacArthur of the United States Army are back!" ”
At that time, his tone was deep and there were tears in the corners of his eyes, calling on everyone to continue to fight and win the victory of justice for the sake of the holy dead and for future generations!
In August 1945, the atomic bomb exploded to finally eliminate the arrogance of Japanese fascism and put an end to this human catastrophe.
After Japan's unconditional surrender, MacArthur took over all postwar affairs in Japan.
As the leader of the defeated country, Emperor Hirohito was in panic all day long.
He was afraid that death was approaching little by little, so he not only agreed to many unequal treaties in the United States, but also curried favor with the admiral with a humble gesture.
But the war emptied Japan's treasury.
Emperor Hirohito could not offer substantial resources to bribe the senior American general.
He was tormented by this.
But as the saying goes: a hero is sad and a beauty passes.
At this time, a beautiful figure named Setsuko Hara appeared in his field of vision.
Emperor Hirohito had a clever move and decided to use this national goddess to curry favor with MacArthur.
In this way, at a drinking party, he introduced Setsuko Hara, who was only 25 years old, to MacArthur, who was 65 years old and had a wife and children.
And Setsuko Hara, for the future of her country, is also willing to become MacArthur's mistress.
I have to admit that this trick "beauty scheme" has indeed succeeded.
At the time, MacArthur publicly stated: "Hirohito is not primarily responsible for World War II." ”
Immediately afterwards, with the intervention of the United States, Hirohito was spared trial by an international military tribunal.
Even Japan's "emperor system" has been preserved.
More importantly, with the support of the United States, Japan quickly recovered from its postwar decay.
For a time, Setsuko Hara became a "heroine" in the mouths of the Japanese public.
But who knows, what is really going on inside her?
Goddess Showa, political cannon fodder
Hara Setsuko was originally named Masae Aida.
She was born into an ordinary family in Japan, and her family was not wealthy.
Even because there are many children in the family, they often can't make ends meet and are a little poor.
In order to reduce the burden on her parents, Setsuko Hara, who was sensible, dropped out of school early and went out to work.
It just so happened that Setsuko Hara's second brother-in-law, Kumagai Hisatora, was the director.
With the matchmaking of her brother-in-law, Setsuko Hara, who was already sweet and cute, stepped into the show business.
Later, at the age of 15, she filmed her first screen work "Young People Don't Hesitate".
Unexpectedly, with this work, she became a hit and began to enter the sight of the Japanese people.
Because she looks pure and moving, her personality is lively and cheerful.
Coupled with its flair for dramatic acting.
Soon Setsuko Hara became a big star all the rage.
However, because of the background of the times, Setsuko Hara's career has an additional layer of political mystery.
She was invited by Hitler's mouthpiece Goebbels to participate in the Japanese-German co-production of "Land".
It was essentially a war propaganda film that received a lot of hype from Japan and Germany.
Setsuko Hara was also noticed by the Japanese emperor for her role as the female number one.
In addition, during the Anti-Japanese War, Setsuko Hara also performed many invading films such as "Shanghai Marines" and "Opium War" to beautify Japan's war of aggression.
Even in the later "Battle of Hawaii and Malay", there was a big fanfare to promote the idea of Japanese militarism.
Through such soft culture invasion, it left a very bad influence at that time.
And all this paved the way for Emperor Hirohito to use Setsuko Hara as a political tool and give MacArthur as a mistress.
With the control of Japan by the US military after the war, the relevant economic culture of the United States gradually affected and changed the lives of the Japanese people.
The traditional Japanese family model of wearing kimonos began to disintegrate.
Originally, Setsuko Hara was called "Forever Virgin".
She often plays the roles of daughter and wife in films, but rarely portrays mothers.
In real life, Setsuko Hara has never been married or mothered.
Today, Setsuko Hara's characters often represent the embodiment of postwar women, deeply and directly expressing the reality of life in Japan.
Perhaps the role she plays is deeply rooted in people's hearts.
But like Setsuko Hara herself, this seemingly passionate and passionate feeling is just a necessity of the times.
And its true sense of self has long been consumed by social stereotypes.
The confinement of women in traditional Japanese society is self-evident.
But in a modern society where the postwar economy needed to be rebuilt, women seemed to be portrayed as the embodiment of social modeling.
The meaning of their existence is infinitely cut off by social roles.
And the self-prosperous and wanton soul is hidden under the mask of social roles.
Whether it is the role played by Setsuko Hara, or the mistress who stoops to be someone else's for the good of the country in real life, it seems that they have become the protective color on their flawless smile for life.
Perhaps, like many women of that era, their smiles had nothing to do with their own happiness.
It represents a kind of self-sacrifice and dedication, fixed in the eternal Showa era.
Just like many people think that real female power is the passionate, confident and bold style of American girls.
But this is also a social stereotype.
Perhaps in the eyes of many, Setsuko Hara was full of criticism as a "political gift" from the emperor to MacArthur as a mistress.
But for the Japanese people at that time, it was precisely because of the sacrifice of Setsuko Hara that Japan's rapid economic development after World War II.
But now it seems that Setsuko Hara has been infinitely magnified in this mediation of interests between countries.
Even if she looks so beautiful and beautiful, she is shocked.
Imagine if the order between two countries really changes because of one woman?
Yang Guifei, who was forced to hang herself in Ma Huangpo, can better understand Setsuko Hara's mood.
Setsuko Hara has acted in 108 movies and has a very wonderful life.
But she said goodbye to the film industry at the age of 42, which made it very mysterious.
But to this, her own answer was: "Go after her own life." ”
postscript
After MacArthur left Japan, Setsuko Hara announced that she would leave the film and television industry and have been in seclusion ever since.
Since then, she has cut herself off from outside media and has never been married and has no children of her own.
At the age of 95, Setsuko Hara quietly left this world.
Since then, the chapter about Setsuko Hara among the world's celebrities has finally come to an end.
But the deeds she left in the world, future generations still have plenty of room for reverie.
In Setsuko Hara's life, movies accounted for a large part.
But this story with MacArthur seems to overshadow her original aura.
Setsuko Hara's smile in her film and television works is impressive.
But under this smile, not only her strong heart, but also conveys happiness and sadness.
bibliography
History of Postwar Japan
CUI Shiguang. Changes in social thought in postwar Japan[J].Contemporary World,2013(08):13-17.)