In his book "Hirohito: Behind the Myth" Behr went into the debate about what the emperor knew about war preparations, about the rape of Nanking, the Bataan death march, the Burma railway and Changi prison. Behr's case was that Hirohito knew as long ago as 1931 - when his troops took control of Manchuria in the putsch that became known as the Mukden Incident - what his military chiefs were doing; that he encouraged it; and that he was fully aware of their preparations for the Second World War.