Overview

• The Imperial Household Agency released the full Kōjun Empress Record online on Oct. 9, making the official chronicle publicly accessible.
• The compilation draws on roughly 1,500 sources, including previously non-public internal materials such as lady-in-waiting diaries and household logs.
• The record documents extensive wartime engagements, including meetings with senior officers, military hospital visits, more than 50,000 bandages sent, and prostheses or false eyes provided over 160 times.
• It states that on Japan’s surrender day she stayed in the air-raid-protected Gobunko and listened to the Emperor’s radio address.
• Scholars are analyzing inclusions and silences, with some reading entries as suggesting she may not have known of the Aug. 14 ‘seidan,’ while the Agency says unverified attributions were omitted under strict editorial standards.