'Heart pounding with joy': Tojo Hideki's prison notes released ahead of execution

About 300 handwritten notes and letters by Tojo Hideki — Japan's prime minister at the outbreak of the Pacific War who was convicted as a Class-A war criminal and executed — have been made public.

Tojo's relatives donated the roughly 300 handwritten documents, including personal memos and correspondence, to the National Diet Library in Tokyo between May and June, according to Yonhap and Japanese outlets including the Tokyo Shimbun and Kyodo News.

Among the donated materials is a diary-style memo titled "As My Heart Moves," written between Jan. 2 and Feb. 14, 1948, during the latter stages of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, also known as the Tokyo Trials. In it, Tojo wrote of Japan's defeat: "Is this the fate of the nation?"

In notes written ahead of cross-examination by chief American prosecutor Joseph Berry Keenan, Tojo wrote: "Japan lost the war, so perhaps that is the nation's fate" — but added that he saw the proceedings as "the last opportunity to proclaim that our actions were grounded in the justice of self-respect and dignity," saying his "heart was pounding with joy" at the prospect.

He described his state of mind at the time as feeling "just like heading into battle."

The same documents contain remarks targeting individuals who cooperated with the Allied side during the trial, accusing them of "affirming the 'militarists' before an international tribunal to curry favor with the prosecution" and of "converting to Christianity to ingratiate themselves."

Kyodo News reported that the materials also include criticism of other defendants and passages anticipating a death sentence.

Among the donated items is a handwritten essay titled "On the War and the Emperor's Responsibility," which flatly denies that Emperor Showa bore any responsibility for the outbreak of the Pacific War.

Tojo and other war criminals were sentenced to death in November 1948 and hanged. The emperor was never indicted.

Trial records made public previously showed that Tojo consistently maintained the war had been an unavoidable act of self-defense. The newly released materials confirm that he remained unrepentant not only in official court proceedings but in his private writings as well.

Tojo and other Class-A war criminals were enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo in 1978 and are venerated as deities by far-right figures.