tojo was responsible for the deaths of millions. the racist, expansionistic, xenophobic society that he led cased a lot of suffering for millions more. yet i respect the way in which he met death. when defeat was imminent, tojo stayed alive knowing the allies would need a public figure to execute at the end of the war. he also took full responsibility for the war, even though his boss, the emperor, was at least passively involved in all major decisions. this is in stark contrast to many of his subordinates in the japanese high command who committed suicide for shame of failure and fear of surrender at war's end. while they were concerned about protecting their personal honor through suicide, tojo sacrificed his personal honor to try and protect his people. he certainly had ample time to kill himself and he certainly wouldn't have risen to his position if he had been afraid of dying, so cowardice was not a motive for why he let himself be taken alive. he never had true remorse for the evils he perpertrated though and never truly atoned for the horrors he caused to millions. he was still a racist, expansionistic, xenophobe when he died and that is why he remains a villain. but in the choosing of the manner of his death, he had a much greater understanding of honor than most of his accomplices.
are there others that you don't respect what they did during life, but you respect how they chose to meet their maker?
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