FANATICAL JAPS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 1 September 1945, Page 5

FANATICAL JAPS

WANTED WAR TO CONTINUE I EMPEROR’S COURAGEOUS ACT New York, Aug. 31. Some fanatical elements in Japan arc so determine.*. to continue the war that they publicly threatened t' shoot down the surrender envoys sent to General MacArthur. said the correspondent of the Associated Press of America. Kamikaze pilots flooded Tokio with 'pamphlets urging continuance of fighting. The emissaries slipped out of Tokio by falsifying an advance announcement of their dc- J parture, and returned by publicly proclaiming an inaccurate schedule.' This was done with General MacArthur’s full support. The correspondent added: “The consensus of opinion of the Japanese with whom I talked was that Emperor Hirohito had won a courageous gamble when ho sued for peace. Public uproar after Hirohito’s surrender broadcast on August 15 died much quicker than was expected. The people were shocked by the sudden change, after eight years’ of consistent propaganda { emphasising that th e people would! capitulate rather than surrender.” j One of Tokio’s leading bankers, a j member of the powerful Mitsubishi firm, told the Associated Press that* Japan would have fought on to the 1

last man if Hirohito had been killed. He said: “The Emperor did a tremendously courageous thing in stopping the war, despite th e attitude of the Government, which wanted to continue it. You must understand that tlie whole fate of th e Japanese people rests in the hands of the Emneror. The people were apprehensive j that a last kamikaze attack would be i staged during the initial landings, but fortunately nothing happened. The atomic bomb was the greatest single factor in the Emperor’s decision, but continued Super-Fortress attacks were a close second. Tokio people lived 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.” NO STIGMA ON EMPEROR The Japanese War Minister. Mr Togo, is living quietly in a Tokio suburb. Th e Domci News Agency said: “We do not care much for him arty more.” It added: “The stigma of losing the war will not fall on the Emperor, but on the men who directed it. The Emperor’s voice is the people’s voice and this saved Japan internal trouble. Japan is the only country to endure defeat without a threat of revolt.” The Associated Press of America correspondent said inflation and shortages threaten a slow and painful return to normality in Tokio. Living costs have risen 300 per cent, since 1941 All businesses, even hotels, are under strict military control, yet there seems to be an undercurrent of fresh hope. Educated Japanese talk of a democratic government under the Emperor. The common people have taken fresh courage from the promise to abolish the dread gendarmerie.