Overview

• The 3,828‑page chronicle was compiled over 17 years from roughly 1,500 sources, including previously non‑public diaries and internal records, and is now publicly available on the agency’s website.
• The record quantifies her wartime actions with about 240 formal utterances and messages, more than 50,000 bandages sent to the wounded, and over 160 instances of providing artificial eyes or limbs.
• It details her mobilization of female royals for hospital visits and information gathering, as well as a Dec. 3, 1941 meeting with Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto where she conveyed appreciation for his forthcoming duty.
• Newly revealed education materials describe her private study program with subjects such as morals, French and waka, and later lectures by legal scholar Hozumi Shigenobu on family law and public affairs.
• Scholars say the text suggests she may not have known of Emperor Shōwa’s Aug. 14, 1945 decision to accept the Potsdam Declaration, while the agency emphasizes it recorded only items supported by reliable sources.