ABSTRACT
In June 1945, the Imperial High Command announced the division of the four main islands into eight geographical regions, each of which would fight alone in the event of an Allied invasion, following the Okinawan example. This plan to fight to the death, called the "Final Battle for the Home Islands" (Hondo kessen), was intended as a stem message to the United States: invasion would come at a high price. The government directed civilians on the ground to imitate the suicide pilots' aerial actions, in the event that the Allies landed on Japanese soil. Every man, woman, and child was expected to die fighting to protect the sacred land of the Japan and preserve the imperial throne. The government glorified the civilian gyokusai on Okinawa, calling it proof of the kamikazefied state of the home front. During the three months of the battle, one-quarter to one-third of the civilian population perished, over one hundred thousand lives. (In reality, many deaths were coerced by the Japanese military, a fact not known by the Japanese public until much later.) With each new military and civilian death, the need for vengeance increased and the idea of surrender grew more remote. Witness a 3 July 1945 English-language Nippon Times article (translated from a Mainichi Newspaper editorial):
Mainichi is Confident of Final Victory in War, Says All Advantages Will Be on Japan's Side in Battle on the Main Islands
The Okinawa operations, however, have provided me with a source of confidence in regard to the decisive war of Japan Proper. On considering the total armed power our enemy the United States massed at that time, the forces Japan threw in, and the war results, and estimating the armed forces that the United States and Japan will be able to mass against the coming decisive fight, and then considering what war results will be achiev~d, I am able to say confidently that it will be all right.
