How imperial action could remove Tojo

In this interpretation, Japan was a monarchical system of competing factions claiming to act for the emperor. The genro tradition supplied senior figures who could interpret imperial wishes and influence prime-ministerial appointments from outside the army and navy. Hirohito's postwar gift of a personal pen and inkstone to Mitsumasa Yonai, then involved in constitutional reconstruction, suggests that Yonai held de facto genro status. Public imperial endorsement of such an elder could force military ministers to choose between the emperor and Tojo. Withdrawing those officers from the cabinet could bring down the government, and Yonai's authority within the navy might secure a naval minister's resignation even without a formal appointment. Rival factions competed to present themselves as the emperor's true servants, so an imperial signal against Tojo would encourage them to replace him.