JAPAN: Last Days

JAPAN Last Days

It was dawn on Friday, but dusk for Dai Nippon. Emperor Hirohito had approved the surrender proposal to the Allies. Five days before, the Japanese radio still talked of 100 years' resistance, and there seemed little question of Japan's ability to hold out for months at least. Then in shattering succession came atomic bombing and the Russian declaration of war. The concussion destroyed more than Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Fear and despair gripped the Japanese nation. Over Hiroshima's "most awesome" destruction, Radio Tokyo moaned: "Diabolic weapon. . . . The corpses are too numerous to be counted. . . . Practically all living things, human and animals, were literally seared to death. . . ."

Tokyo's influential Asahi worried over the "destruction of our traffic system as well as our electrical, gas and water supplies." Farmers were officially admonished to increase food production. The Bank of Japan limited reports because of disruption of communications. The Stock Exchange closed down. Japan's battered will to resist began to stiffen in rigor mortis.

Last-Ditch Stand. But no news of the surrender proposal was announced to the 70 million Japanese people. Instead War Minister General Korechika Anami called for last-ditch resistance:

"I declare to the entire forces: Russia has finally taken up arms against us. Regardless how colored her declaration may be, her ambition to invade and seize Greater East Asia is very clear. . . . What is there to say but that we will give our all to carry through toward the successful consummation of this holy war for the defense of our divine land. I firmly believe that in fighting to the end, even if we may be forced to exist on grass and sleep in the fields, there is life in death.

"This is the spirit of serving the nation with seven lives—that is, Kusunoki, Masashige's spirit, and the faith of Hojo Tokimune that life springs from nonexistence, indestructibility from destruction."

Deeper Darkness. Almost nothing could be clearly discerned as the darkness of Japan's darkest hour grew deeper. But there were rumors of a struggle between War Minister Anami and the diehard war lords, on one side, and an unofficial, pro-peace "Committee of 21." There were rumors that Crown Prince Akihito, 11, might succeed his father.

Then the Tokyo newspaper Yomiuri Hochi, in a historic editorial, prepared the minds of the Japanese people for the surrender news: "There is an ebb and a flow in the tides of the affairs of every nation. Statesmen require the greatest courage when they think not of themselves but of the nation. Individuals must have the courage of self-immolation, but it may be said that a nation does not have the right to commit suicide. Therefore there are times when statesmen must have the courage to save the nation at the cost of their own lives. However, in such cases, political and military farsightedness are necessary."