Christopher Harding: Sometimes a man has to jump

Early​ in July 1942, people on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaidō became aware that a man was rifling through their rubbish bins. This would have been peculiar behaviour under any circumstances, but the man was their prime minister. Tōjō Hideki was a little over half a year into an all-out war with the United States and Britain – to add to an older conflict still raging in China – and it was taking its toll.

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