ABSTRACT
On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced that Japan would surrender unconditionally to the Allied Powers. The Japanese Empire’s dream of a “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” had ended. Nine days after the first nuclear bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima and six days after a second such bomb had been dropped on Nagasaki, Hirohito addressed the nation:
The enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is indeed incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, it would result not only in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization. Such being the case, how are we to save the millions of our subjects, or to atone ourselves before the hallowed spirits of our imperial ancestors? This is the reason why we have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint [Potsdam] Declaration of the [Allied] Powers.4
