Opaque Lucidity

Today in History August 14, 2005

Hirohito records surrender, 1945

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TRANSCRIPT:

Today in 1945, Japanese Emperor Hirohito recorded a message to the Japanese people announcing the nation’s surrender. The speech was broadcast the next day at noon, Japan standard time. The speech was spoken in formal Japanese that was only used in the Imperial Court. It was the first time a Japanese Emperor had spoken to the common people, either directly or, as was the case here, via a recording.

The Japanese War Council...

had submitted a formal declaration of surrender to the Allies on August 10th. But fighting continued until the 15th as the Soviets pushed into Manchuria and invaded the northern islands of Japan itself. Off the coast of Japan, aircraft carrier raids continued against airfields, roads and bridges as a precursor to an invasion that would never come. Even the Japanese continued fighting after submitting their surrender—a Japanese submarine sank two American ships off the coast of Okinawa on the 12th.

When radio stations in Japan announced the forthcoming proclamation, over one thousand Japanese soldiers attempted to overrun the Imperial Palace. Their goal was to seize all copies of the Emperor’s recording and destroy them, thus delaying the surrender announcement. The attackers were repulsed by troops still loyal to the Imperial Court.

The next day, the Japanese people heard their leader’s voice for the first time. It was not the voice of a god, but the voice of a man whose fate was still uncertain. He said that the nation would have to bear the unbearable and endure the unendurable. The war that had ruined the nation island nation was over, and the unthinkable had happened. Japan and her citizens had nowhere to go but up.