Emperor Hirohito had also began to see the truth and it troubled him to know that his own generals would undermine his thoughts and cause an international problem while withholding the truth from the emperor. It was because of this incident that Prime Minister Tanaka resigned but the anger Hirohito held would only grow in the future with the continued dishonesty and secrecy of his military.
As the world was in a financial crisis, a powder keg exploded with the bombing of the Manchurian Railway on September 18, 1931. Known as the Manchurian Incident, it was quickly associated with the previous assassination of Chang Tso-Lin. Reports surfaced that his son, Chang Hsueh-Liang, had attempted to arise anti-Japanese sentiment throughout Manchuria and Japanese military forces saw an opportunity. Under the command of Colonel Itagaki and Colonel Doihara (both of whom were later convicted of war crimes) the Japanese forces in the Kwantung Army staged the bombing. Once again Emperor Hirohito's plight for peaceful resolutions had been undermined by his commanding officers who were looking for any excuse to conduct a military campaign into Manchuria for its conquest. It is clearly documented that Hirohito had called upon his war ministry and army chief of staff to cease the violence but the army continued on despite the orders. Though the Emperor of Japan had constitutional power he did also have the power in matters of war which were blatantly ignored to satisfy the aspirations of the military command. Despite the Japanese involvement of the Nine-Power Pact of 1922, the military continued to press forward with war in Manchuria against the wishes of its emperor.
As animosity between the Emperor and his military grew, Hirohito found himself at a loss as to what he should do. Emperor Hirohito wanted the violence in Manchuria quelled and had his advisors approach Prime Minister Wakatsuki to relay the message.
