Abstract
On August 15, 1945, the “Greater East Asia War” ended with the imperial radio broadcast that devastated the already shattered nation. Emperor Hirohito somberly announced: We declared war on America and Britain out of Our sincere desire to secure Japan’s self-preservation and the stabilization of Asia, it being far from Our thought either to infringe upon the sovereignty of other nations or to embark upon territorial aggrandizement…. We cannot but express the sense of deepest regret to our Allied nations of East Asia, who have consistently cooperated with the Empire towards the emancipation of East Asia…. The hardships and suffering to which Our nation is to be subjected hereafter will be certainly great…. However it is according to the dictate of time and fate that We have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable.1 This announcement was succeeded by the dissolution of the short-lived Suzuki Kantaro cabinet, followed by the immediate appointment of Prince Higashikuni to the premiership and the signing of the surrender treaty on the USS Missouri on September 2.
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