The plot is this: General MacArthur (played with good, old-fashioned American swagger by Tommy Lee Jones), put in charge of the occupation of Japan, is faced with rounding up war criminals for the Allies to place on trial. The main problem he faces is that one of these suspected war criminals is Emperor Hirohito, who is guarded by soldiers who are willing to fight to the death to protect him from any intruders.
General MacArthur orders General Bonner Fellers (Michael Fox), who is familiar with Japan and Japanese customs, to investigate the emperor's role in the war. Did Emperor Hirohito order the attack on Pearl Harbor? Was he responsible for the atrocities Japanese soldiers committed during their occupations of Pacific islands and Asian countries? While General Fellers is investigating this, he is also searching for the Japanese woman he loves.
So what can we glean from Emperor? One thing is that the truth isn't always what we think it is at first. Because of anti-Axis propaganda, Americans believed that Emperor Hirohito, being the monarch of Japan, should be held responsible for the actions of the Japanese military; however, they didn't understand the customs Japan had concerning its aristocracy. There's also a Christian theme at the end, but I'll let you find it yourselves if you watch the movie.
The movie itself seems to be geared toward history buffs. There isn't much action, but there's a lot of dialogue and several flashbacks to General Fellers' time with his Japanese girlfriend.
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