Editing Potsdam Declaration (section)

==Leaflets and radio broadcasts==
The declaration was released to the press in Potsdam on the evening of July 26 and was simultaneously transmitted to the [[Office of War Information]] (OWI) in Washington. By 5:00&nbsp;p.m. Washington time, OWI's [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] transmitters, aimed at the Japanese home islands, were broadcasting the text in English, and two hours later they began broadcasting it in Japanese. The declaration was never transmitted to the Japanese government by diplomatic channels, one reason being that the [[State Department]] did not want the United States to be seen as [[suing for peace]]. The Japanese ambassador to Moscow reacted to the news by calling the declaration "a big scare-bomb directed against us".<ref name="Hellegers-2001">{{cite book|last=Hellegers|first=Dale M. |title=We, the Japanese People: Washington |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GL8h6wZPqIoC&pg=PA134 |year=2001 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-8032-2 |page=134 |oclc=47238424}}</ref> American bombers dropped over 3&nbsp;million [[Airborne leaflet propaganda|leaflets]] describing the declaration over Japan,<ref>{{cite web|title=The Information War in the Pacific, 1945: Paths to Peace|author=Williams, Josette H.|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol46no3/article07.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613105945/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol46no3/article07.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 13, 2007}}</ref> despite the fact that picking up enemy propaganda leaflets and listening to foreign radio broadcasts was illegal in Japan.

The initial English radio transmission was received in Japan by the Foreign Ministry, [[Dōmei Tsushin|Dōmei News Agency]], the Imperial Army, and the Imperial Navy.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Yomiuri Shimbun Company |date=2012 |title=昭和史の天皇 3 本土決戦とポツダム宣言 |trans-title=Emperor of Showa History, Vol. 3: Decisive Battle for the Home Islands and the Potsdam Declaration |url= |language=Japanese |location=Tokyo |publisher=Chuo Bunko | pages =348–349}}</ref> It was translated into Japanese by [[Takeso Shimoda]] of the Treaty Division of the Foreign Ministry. An internal discussion in the Foreign Ministry concluded that acceptance was unavoidable, but there was still room for negotiation. "Remaining silent is prudent; the news media should be instructed to print it without any comments."<ref>{{cite journal |last=山下 |first=祐志 |date=1998 |title=アジア・太平洋戦争と戦後教育改革(12) : ポツダム宣言の受諾  |trans-title=Asia, the Pacific War, and Post-War Reforms in Education (Part 12): Acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration |url= |journal=宇部工業高等専門学校研究報告 |volume=44 |issue= |page=2 }}</ref>