Emperor grieves for dead

Press, 16 August 1985, Page 6

Emperor grieves for dead

NZPA-AP Tokyo Emperor Hirohito of Japan paid tribute yesterday to his country’s development but said he grieved over the dead when he observed the fortieth anniversary of the end of World War II yesterday. Forty years ago, almost to the minute, Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender in a radio broadcast, the first time he had ever spoken to the Japanese people. More than 7000 relatives of Japanese soldiers killed in the war attended yester-

day’s ceremony. “Even now my heart grieves when I think of the many people who fell in the ravages of war and are scattered on the battlefields of the last world war,” the 84-year-old Emperor said in the Budokan martial arts hall. As he spoke, rocking slightly on his feet, he faced a cenotaph in the centre of the stage inscribed, “Souls of the nation’s war dead,” backed by a large Japanese flag and tiers of 25,000 yellow and white chrysan-

The ceremony began with a speech by the Prime Minister, Mr Yasuhiro Nakasone, who said that the Government “would make endless efforts in the name of world peace and international co-operation, using the lessons we learned from the war, so that the deaths of those who never came back would not be in vain.” After a minute of silence at precisely 12 noon, marked by sirens around the country, the Emperor told the standing Budokan audience, mostly in their 60s and 70s, that in the 40 years

since the end of the war, “1 have seen the development of our nation’s prosperity through the efforts of our people, but when I recall former times I have profound emotions.”

At noon, August 15, 1945, Hirohito ended almost four years of war with the United States and its allies when he announced “the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage.” Throughout the nation people stood at attention during the minute of silence at noon.