THE EMPEROR'S POWER

Evening Star, Issue 25577, 1 September 1945, Page 7

THE EMPEROR'S POWER

WON COURAGEOUS GAMBLE

GOVERNMENT WANTED TO CONTINUE WAR NEW YORK, August 31.

The Associated Press correspondent says: " The consensus of opinion among the Japanese with whom I talked was that Emperor Hirohito won a courageous gamble when he sued for peace. The public uproar after Hirohito's surrender broadcast on August 15 died. much quicker than was expected, the people being shocked by the sudden change after eight years_ of consistent propaganda emphasising that the people would die rather than surrender."

One of Tokio's leading bankers, a member of the powerful Mitsubishi firm, told the Associated Press that Japan would have fought on to_ the last man if Hirohito had been killed. He said: " The Emperor did a tremendously courageous thing in stopping the war in spite of the attitude of the Government, which wanted to continue it. You must understand that the whole fate of the Japanese people rests in the hands of the Emperor. The people were apprehensive that the last Kamikaze attack would be staged during the initial landings, but fortunately nothing happened The atomic bomb was the greatest single factor in the Emperor's decision, but the continued Super-Fortress_ attacks were a close second. The Tokio people liver in continual terror. Japanese civilians want no more war ever. They are anxious to see what becomes of them, what reparations they must pay, and whether Japan will ever be able to industrialise again and take its place in world trade. " Some fanatical elements in Japfjn were so . determined to continue the war that they publicly threatened to shoot down the surrender envoys sent to General MacArthur," said the correspondent. " Kamikaze pilots flooded Tokio with pamphlets urging continuance of the fighting, and the emissaries slipped out of Tokio by falsifying an advance announcement of their departure and returned by publicly proclaiming an inaccurate schedule. This was done with General MacArthur's full"support." PRIME MINISTER'S APPEAL.

The Japanese. Prime Minister, Prince Higashikuni, appealed to the people for suggestions how to administer _ the Government, reports the Domei Agency. " I want to get letters direct from the people," said Prince Higashikuni. " Letters may be personal or official and may voice complaints against the Government. The people may write about anything they please because I want to get the public's real feeling." The Domei Agency broadcast an appeal from the Japanese Christian leader, Toyohiko Kagawa, urging General MacArthur to be magnanimous. The Associated Press says that for the last three years Kagawa has been broadcasting anti-American propaganda. DEFIANT GUNNERS. The first occupation waves of 18,000 strong landed in the Tokio area with only a single incident, says the Associated Press correspondent. That came when ground gunners on Miyak Island, 00 miles south of Tokio,, fired three defiant shots against a transport plane. Nobody was hurt.