August 15, 1945 was called "the longest day in Japanese history" by some. Since the morning of this day, Japanese radio stations have repeatedly broadcast the news that there will be an important broadcast by the emperor at 12 noon. In the 20 years since Emperor Showa ascended the throne, he has never spoken directly to the public, and there are various speculations about the content of the emperor's speech. Although there were some ominous hunches about whether the Emperor would announce his acceptance of the Allied declaration, many more believed that, like the edicts read out on his behalf in the past, the Emperor would still inspire the Japanese to continue the war. It is also believed that after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the soviet invasion, the emperor may want to announce a final decisive battle.
When the radio station sounded at 12 o'clock, people from all over Japan had already gathered in front of the radio. The radio broadcast the Edict of the End of the War, read by Emperor Showa Hirohito himself, in the form of the so-called "Tamaki Broadcasting".
The edict states:
Worried about the general situation of the world and the current situation of the empire, and wanting to clean up the situation with extraordinary measures, Zbucher and other loyal subjects:
The Imperial Government informed the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and Britain of accepting its joint declaration.
He inherits the legacy of the Emperor's ancestors, fists and fists in the tranquility of the imperial subjects, and the common prosperity and happiness of all the nations. Therefore, the declaration of war in the United States and Britain is really out of the self-existence of the empire and the tranquility of East Asia. Even the sovereignty of an exclusive country or the act of encroaching on the territory of another country are not the original intention of the fallen. However, after four years of fighting, although the soldiers of the Land and Sea of the Fallen are brave and good at fighting, although the hundreds of officials and divisions of the Fallen are doing their best to govern, and although the hundreds of millions of people who have refrained from self-denial and do their best, the war situation has not improved, and the general trend of the world is unfavorable to us; and the enemy's new use of cruel bombs frequently injures innocent people, and its situation is unpredictable. If the war continues, it will eventually lead to the demise of our nation and the spread of human civilization. In this way, why did he protect the naked son of The Hundred Million Signs, and how could he thank the gods of the Emperor's ancestors and emperors? It was for the imperial government to respond to the common declaration.
He has only deep regret over the allies that have been working with the Empire to the liberation of East Asia; for the consideration of the subjects of the Empire and their remnants who died in battle, martyred in their duties, and who have been killed, they are often torn apart; and the well-being of those who have been wounded in war, suffered disasters and lost their family businesses is the place of deep remembrance of yuan. The suffering of the empire in the future is extraordinary, and the heartfelt feelings of the subjects are well known. However, the fortune of the times, for the peace of all the worlds, will be embarrassed by the things that will be endured, and the feelings that will be unbearable will be endured.
Faithful believers are present with loyal and good subjects who uphold the state system, and they are afraid of being emotionally agitated and indiscriminately provoking trouble, squeezing out each other among their compatriots, and disrupting the situation. It is even more important to avoid going astray and losing faith in the world. At this time, it is advisable to raise the country as a family, and the descendants will continue to confirm that shenzhou is immortal, remembering that the task is heavy and the road is long; devote all their efforts to the construction of the future, firmly believe in morality, firmly adhere to the discipline, and vow to carry forward the essence of the national system, in the hope of the world's advancement.
This is the expectation of the decay, and I hope that the subjects will be zhouzhi.
The reason why the emperor's edict is quoted in full is because later people often regard the emperor's edict issued on August 15, 1945 in the form of "Yuyin Broadcasting" as a sign of Japan's surrender, and believe that Japan has entered the post-war period. It is true that Japan's post-war period began with the emperor's edict, but the complexity of japan's understanding of the history of war in post-war Japanese society can be said to have begun at this time. Because the "Edict of the End of the War" does not mention "defeat" and "surrender" once, it lays the "foreshadowing" of the Japanese people's understanding of the history of the war.
A specific analysis of the above-mentioned Emperor's edict shows that, first, the edict only states that "the general situation of the world is unfavorable to me," and the Allies have used the "bomb of cruelty" to declare their acceptance of the joint declaration of the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and Britain for the sake of "the naked son of a billion trillion trillions," [illustration] without any reference to acknowledging the fact of Japan's defeat; second, the edict emphasizes that declaring war is not his original intention, but that he has to do it for the sake of Japan's "self-existence" and the "tranquility" of East Asia, and still stands on the "liberation of East Asia." In the end, the war referred to in the edict was a war with Britain and the United States that had begun in 1941 for "four years", and the war against China was not mentioned. It can be seen that, as in the past, the edict still highlights the so-called "national system" of Japan, and still adheres to the imperial view of history. If the intention of the edict is explained more clearly, it is that although Japan is now experiencing temporary twists and turns, as long as it upholds the national system, although there is still a long way to go, Japan still has hope.
In fact, by August 1945, Japan's defeat had become an undeniable and irreversible fact. The emperor issued such an edict that did not recognize defeat, which "ended" the war, but led to confusion in Japanese social thought.
All major Japanese newspapers received the Emperor's edict declaring the end of the war at midnight on August 14 and published it the next day under a prominent headline. The headline of the "Daily News" was: "The End of the Great East Asian War; the Promulgation of the Edict on The Consolidation of the Situation," while in the editorial "Safeguarding the National System," it was written: "While listening to the Great Edict to end the war, the grass people of my generation should give full play to the essence of the national system and build a new Japan." The predecessor of the Yomiuri Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun, published the Emperor's edict in its entirety under the title of "Opening Up Peace for All Ages," and at the same time published an editorial stating: "As stated in the edict declaring war in the Great East Asian War, the war we are waging is a just war, a war of self-defense and self-survival." The purpose of the war was for the liberation of East Asia and the well-being of a billion people. None of these reports and editorials mentioned "surrender," "unconditional," or a critique of the army and government that led to the defeat. Although the Asahi Shimbun acknowledged that "the peace that the Japanese people will face in the future is not reciprocal, but a unilateral defeat," it did not say anything about the responsibility of the army and the government. That's because on August 14, the Intelligence Service, which is responsible for press control, had just issued to the media "guidelines for public opinion at the end of negotiations in the Great East Asia War."
On August 16, in response to the situation following the promulgation of the Emperor's edict, the Intelligence Bureau issued another directive requiring the media to "publish official statements by the enemy, but delete all references to those responsible for the war, the responsibility of the military department, and the impact on the domestic situation" and that "the concept of 'Japanese surrender' can be used, but not 'unconditionally'."
Professor Yoichi Komori of UTokyo once pointed out that the "Edict of the End of war" is an answer to the "Potsdam Declaration" put forward by the four powers of the United States, Britain, China and the Soviet Union, and should naturally involve the war with China, but the edict "only regards the 'declaration of war on the United States and Britain' as a problem" and "excludes China and the Soviet Union, which obviously indicates that its intention is to limit the war to after 1941." Some scholars have also clearly pointed out that the emperor's "Edict of the End of the War" "is the most fundamental point of which is to avoid the emperor's war responsibilities and 'protect the national system.'" This is because in the so-called "Edict of the End of the War", only the war between Japan and the United States and Britain is mentioned, and there is no "understanding of defeat" in its contents, and "all the aggression against China is ignored." Therefore, the so-called Edict of the End of the War is nothing more than a "declaration of the continuation of the imperial system."
Thus, with the publication of the Edict of the End of The War on August 15, 1945, all the Japanese had to face the harsh reality of defeat when they woke up overnight. The imperial view of history, which was the spiritual pillar of Japan during the war, should have come to an end, but because the "Edict of the End of the War" still adhered to the imperial view of history, it only ended the war with an ambiguous attitude in form, which brought about a series of problems and controversies in the post-war Japanese people's understanding of history.