Editing Hirohito (section)

====Shinobu Kobayashi's diary====
Shinobu Kobayashi was the Emperor's chamberlain from April 1974 until June 2000. Kobayashi kept a diary with near-daily remarks of Hirohito for 26 years. It was made public on Wednesday 22 August 2018.<ref name="Kobayashi-diary">{{cite web |date=23 August 2018 |title=Diary tells of Emperor Hirohito's anguish in final years over blame for war |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/08/23/national/history/diary-tells-emperor-hirohitos-anguish-final-years-blame-war/#.XV35d9LLfK4}}</ref> According to Takahisa Furukawa, a professor of modern Japanese history at Nihon University, the diary reveals that the emperor "gravely took responsibility for the war for a long time, and as he got older, that feeling became stronger."{{sfn|Rich|2018}}

Jennifer Lind, associate professor of government at [[Dartmouth College]] and a specialist in Japanese war memory said:

{{blockquote|"Over the years, these different pieces of evidence have trickled out and historians have amassed this picture of culpability and how he was reflecting on that. This is another piece of the puzzle that very much confirms that the picture that was taking place before, which is that he was extremely culpable, and after the war he was devastated about this."{{sfn|Rich|2018}}}}

An entry dated 27 May 1980 said the Emperor wanted to express his regret about the [[Second Sino-Japanese War|Sino-Japanese war]] to former Chinese Premier [[Hua Guofeng]] who visited at the time, but was stopped by senior members of the [[Imperial Household Agency]] owing to fear of backlash from far right groups.<ref name="Kobayashi-diary" />

An entry dated 7 April 1987 said the Emperor was haunted by discussions of his wartime responsibility and, as a result, was losing his will to live.<ref name="Kobayashi-diary" />