Michiji Tajima
banker in Japan
Michiji Tajima (Japanese: 田島道治) (July 2, 1885 – December 2, 1968) was a Japanese businessman and educator. He was Grand Steward of the Imperial Household Office (June 5, 1948 – May 31, 1949) and continued as Grand Steward of its successor, the Imperial Household Agency (June 1, 1949 – December 16, 1953). He graduated from the University of Tokyo.
Documents written by Tajima and made public by the Japanese broadcaster NHK in 2019 suggest that Emperor Hirohito sought to apologize to the Japanese people for the damage caused during World War II. These include 18 notebooks, as well as a 1948 draft for an apology speech written in preparation for Japan gaining independence from Allied occupation in April 1952, which included phrases such as "deep shame" due to "my fault" (for the war). However, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida sought to avoid all mention of the war by Hirohito, and the passage referencing the emperor's "remorse" was dropped altogether.
Bibliography
『孔子 その人とその伝説』, translation by Michiharu Tajima of “Confucius and his legend” by H. G. Creel, Iwanami Shoten, October 7, 1993 (6th printing), ISBN 4000028820. The author (Herrlee G. Creel, 1905–94) was a professor at the University of Chicago. First published on January 31, 1961, it has been republished several times. Later, on September 10, 2014, the same publisher published an on-demand version (ISBN 9784007301353).
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11576670. VIAF identifies the subject as 7330582. The Library of Congress control number is nr2003001239. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1885, 1968, 1948 and 1949.
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This entry incorporates text from “Michiji Tajima” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.