Editing Hirohito (section)

==== Surrender ====
{{Main|Surrender of Japan}}
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[[File:Emperor Hirohito of Japan or the Shōwa Emperor on the ship Musashi 1943-06-24, from- 島村信政5 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Emperor Hirohito on the battleship ''Musashi'', 24 June 1943]]
In early 1945, in the wake of the losses in the [[Battle of Leyte]], Emperor Hirohito began a series of individual meetings with senior government officials to consider the progress of the war. All but ex-Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe advised continuing the war. Konoe feared a communist revolution even more than defeat in war and urged a negotiated surrender. In February 1945, during the first private audience with Hirohito he had been allowed in three years,<ref>Bix, p. 756.</ref>{{incomplete short citation|date=October 2023}} Konoe advised Hirohito to begin negotiations to end the war. According to Grand Chamberlain [[Hisanori Fujita]], Hirohito, still looking for a ''tennozan'' (a great victory) in order to provide a stronger bargaining position, firmly rejected Konoe's recommendation.<ref>Fujita Hisanori, ''Jijûchô no kaisô'', Chûô Kôronsha, 1987, pp. 66–67, Bix, p. 489.</ref>{{incomplete short citation|date=October 2023}}

With each passing week victory became less likely. In April, the Soviet Union issued notice that it would not renew its neutrality agreement. Japan's ally Germany surrendered in early May 1945. In June, the cabinet reassessed the war strategy, only to decide more firmly than ever on a fight to the last man. This strategy was officially affirmed at a brief Imperial Council meeting, at which, as was normal, Hirohito did not speak.

The following day, [[Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan|Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal]] [[Kōichi Kido]] prepared a draft document which summarized the hopeless military situation and proposed a negotiated settlement. Extremists in Japan were also calling for a death-before-dishonor mass suicide, modeled on the "[[Forty-seven rōnin|47 Ronin]]" incident. By mid-June 1945, the cabinet had agreed to approach the Soviet Union to act as a mediator for a negotiated surrender but not before Japan's bargaining position had been improved by repulse of the anticipated Allied invasion of mainland Japan.

On 22 June, Hirohito met with his ministers saying, "I desire that concrete plans to end the war, unhampered by existing policy, be speedily studied and that efforts be made to implement them." The attempt to negotiate a peace via the Soviet Union came to nothing. There was always the threat that extremists would carry out a coup or foment other violence. On 26 July 1945, the Allies issued the [[Potsdam Declaration]] demanding [[unconditional surrender]]. The Japanese government council, the Big Six, considered that option and recommended to Hirohito that it be accepted only if one to four conditions were agreed upon, including a guarantee of Hirohito's continued position in [[Culture of Japan|Japanese society]].

That changed after the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] and the Soviet declaration of war. On 9 August, Emperor Hirohito told [[Kōichi Kido]]: "The Soviet Union has declared war and today began hostilities against us."<ref>Kido Kōichi Nikki, p. 1223.</ref> On 10 August, the cabinet drafted an "[[Imperial Rescript ending the War]]" following Hirohito's indications that the declaration did not comprise any demand which prejudiced his prerogatives as a sovereign ruler.

On 12 August 1945, Hirohito informed the imperial family of his decision to surrender. One of his uncles, [[Prince Yasuhiko Asaka]], asked whether the war would be continued if the ''[[kokutai]]'' (national polity) could not be preserved. Hirohito simply replied "Of course."{{sfn|Hidenari|1991|p=129}} On 14 August, Hirohito made the decision to surrender "unconditionally"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wells |first=H. G. |title=The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |year=1971 |editor-last=Wells |editor-first=G. P. |editor-link=G. P. Wells |volume=2 |location=New York |pages=991 |author-link=H. G. Wells |editor-last2=Postgate |editor-first2=Raymond |editor-link2=Raymond Postgate}}</ref> and the Suzuki government notified the Allies that it had accepted the [[Potsdam Declaration]].

On 15 August, a recording of [[Hirohito surrender broadcast|Hirohito's surrender speech]] was broadcast over the radio (the first time Hirohito was heard on the radio by the Japanese people) announcing Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration. During the historic broadcast Hirohito stated: "Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization." The speech also noted that "the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage" and ordered the Japanese to "endure the unendurable." The speech, using formal, archaic Japanese, was not readily understood by many commoners. According to historian [[Richard Storry]] in ''A History of Modern Japan'', Hirohito typically used "a form of language familiar only to the well-educated" and to the more traditional [[samurai]] families.<ref>{{cite book |author1-link=Richard Storry |first=Richard |last=Storry |title=A History of Modern Japan |year=1991 |publisher=Penguin}}</ref>

A faction of the army opposed to the surrender attempted a [[coup d'état]] on the evening of 14 August, prior to the broadcast. They seized the Imperial Palace (the [[Kyūjō incident]]), but the physical recording of Hirohito's speech was hidden and preserved overnight. The coup failed, and the speech was broadcast the next morning.<ref name=Rescript>{{cite web |url=http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2012/August%202012/0812keeper.aspx |title=Hirohito's "Jewel Voice Broadcast" |publisher=The Air Force Association |date=August 2012 |access-date=14 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130910212019/http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2012/August%202012/0812keeper.aspx |archive-date=10 September 2013}}</ref>

In his first ever press conference given in Tokyo in 1975, when he was asked what he thought of the bombing of Hiroshima, Hirohito answered: "It's very regrettable that nuclear bombs were dropped and I feel sorry for the citizens of Hiroshima but it couldn't be helped because that happened in wartime" (''[[shikata ga nai]]'', meaning "it cannot be helped").<ref>Bix, p. 676</ref>{{incomplete short citation|date=October 2023}}{{sfn|Dower|1999|p=606}}