The military had too much power, and too much of the military wanted to fight to the bitter end. That's almost certainly a good thing, but it's worth noting that had that been the case in 1945 it's unlikely that Japan would have surrendered. The Japanese emperor today, of course, has a purely ceremonial position with no political power at all. And, indeed, when at the end of the war and after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he finally did decide that he had to put a stop to it, the result was that a faction of the military attempted to assassinate him (for a second time - there was an attempted coup in 1936 by a military faction that was the direct ancestor of the pro-war group that attempted to stop the surrender).

Hirohito didn't choose war, he just didn't choose to take on a large enough policy role to stop it. True, but it's worth pointing out that Japan got into WWII, and especially into a fight with the United States over the objections of its emperor, who was not mercurial at all, but had receded to a largely ceremonial position even though he still held immense status.

Democratic Japan has demonstrated multiple generations of good world-citizenship that is based on widely held modern cultural values, rather than based on the mercurial whims of an emperor. Yes, but Democratic Japan and Imperial Japan are very different counties. (Other countries, including the United States, built early carriers by using the hulls of other types of ships.) The Imperial Japanese Navy built the world's first purpose-built aircraft carrier, Hosho, in 1922. Japan was heavily reliant on its navy for power projection and took a natural liking to the concept of operating planes from ships. In December 1941, Japan operated the largest and best-trained carrier force in the world. The F-35Bs landed vertically on Izumo's flight deck and then performed a rolling takeoff. Two F-35B Joint Strike Fighters operating from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni took off from mainland Japan, refueled in midair, and then landed on the ship JS Izumo. The flight took place on October 3 in the Pacific Ocean. Japan was one of the first pioneering naval aviation powers, but its involvement in World War II saw the destruction of nearly its entire fleet battle force - particularly the carriers.

From a report: The flight involving the Japanese aircraft carrier Izumo and American F-35B fighter jets marked the first time Japan has operated an aircraft carrier since 1945. The United States Marine Corps and Japan's Maritime Self Defense Force made history last month with an epic flight that relaunched Japan's carrier aviation program.

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