For, as it happened, detailed minutes written immediately afterwards by Okumura, the emperor’s interpreter, eventually did see the light of day three decades later. They tend to confirm the Home Ministry’s version of events. In this confidential reconstruction, the emperor is never quoted as offering to assume responsibility for the war, whereas the supreme commander emerges almost as a fawning courtier awed by his proximity to “Your Majesty” and extraordinarily solicitous in his comments.
