Looking back on the events that led to the surrender of Japan 70 years ago

The Takeaway
Japanese surrender

History tells us that World War II ended with a relentless Allied leap from island-to-island across the Pacific, culminating with the fire-bombing of Tokyo. The atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we are told, delivered the final blow, immediately bringing the Japanese to their knees.

But the US leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9, respectively, and the Japanese did not surrender until August 15 (August 14, in the US). The days in between those bombs and that surrender were filled with far more than external destruction. Rather, the Soviet decision to declare war on Japan and invade Manchuria, internal politics and an attempted coup, all culminated in a radio broadcast at noon on August 15 that almost didn’t happen.  

While the atomic bombs were falling, the Japanese were desperately trying to persuade the Soviets to join the war in the Pacific against the Americans. Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, a professor of history at University of California Santa Barbara, says the Japanese were relying on this last-ditch effort. And when it fell through on August 9, they were devastated. “You see, the Soviet entry into the war was a much bigger shock to the Japanese government than the Hiroshima bomb,” Hasegawa notes.

The Japanese Supreme War Council met in the late hours of August 9 to discuss what to do. They were divided over whether to accept the Potsdam Declaration at all, and if they were, what conditions to impose. So they turned to Emperor Hirohito, who decided to end the war and accept the Potsdam declaration, with the condition that the emperor be left in his position.

News of the surrender began to trickle into the US on August 10.

“We interrupt all broadcasting to bring you a special broadcast,” listeners heard on NBC radio. “We are here in the NBC newsroom with the bulletins coming in constantly on Japan's surrender offer. And with every minute that passes, it becomes more certain that the offer is definite and that there is a 9/10 chance that it will be accepted. And we now know definitely that last night the Japanese foreign minister, gave to the Russian ambassador in Tokyo, a definite statement that Japan decided to surrender.”

But the US did not accept the Japanese condition. Keeping Hirohito as a leader of Japan proved to be a sticking point.

Meanwhile, Japanese citizens were getting a different message, unaware of the emperor’s decision to end the war. A group of renegade military officers took out an announcement in a newspaper announcing that they were going to fight the war to the very bitter end.

“It's very colorful language,” says Hasegawa. “Even if we chew the grass and eat the dirt, and crow on the ground, we're going to continue fighting the war. And so that's what the Japanese people read in the newspaper.”

Hirohito understood just how powerful that fiercely nationalist language could be. He decided that another, more powerful message, was necessary. He called on NHK radio to come to the Imperial Palace to record a public announcement of him surrendering without condition. Late on the night of August 14, the emperor made four recordings.

Meanwhile, rebel soldiers and palace guards clashed at the imperial palace, with several deaths. NHK officials hid the recordings in one of the empress’s rarely used closets. The soldiers were unable to find the precious vinyl recordings.

A 7 a.m. broadcast on NHK announced that there would be an important message from the emperor at noon. With five hours before the broadcast, rebel soldiers made one last attempt to halt the broadcast — at NHK headquarters.

“Those junior conspirators slipped out of the imperial palace, gathered troops and tried to attack the NHK headquarters,” recounts Hasegawa.

The officials at NHK resisted their demands that the broadcast be suspended — and protected the records of the emperor's comments.

The details surrounding the broadcast, itself, are remarkable, and most likely wouldn't have been possible without courageous actions by NHK technicians and engineers, Hasegawa notes.

At exactly noon on August 15, the Japanese heard their emperor's voice for the first time. The emperor was supposed to be a spiritual figure, a demi-god, above political considerations. 

“To our good and loyal subjects,” Hirohito began. “After pondering deeply the general trends of the world and the actual conditions obtaining in our empire today, We have decided to effect a settlement of the present situation by resorting to an extraordinary measure. We have ordered our governments to communicate to the governments of the United States, Great Britain, China and the Soviet Union that our empire accepts the provisions of their Joint Declaration, the Potsdam Declaration.

Hasegawa was a young boy at the time. “I didn’t really understand what was going on, but that all adults were huddled around the radio and had tears. But I think many people were relieved that the war was over.”

With the broadcast public, and the coup squashed, the war was indeed over, but Hasegawa says he might not have been so relieved if he were older, demonstrating just how forceful the powers of patriotism and nationalism can be.

“Many people were also bitter. I would have been probably a patriotic kid trying to fight the invading Americans.”

This story first aired as an interview on PRI's The Takeaway, a public radio program that invites you to be part of the American conversation.

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