Gen. Tojo critical of Japan's acceptance of Potsdam Declaration

Tuesday 12th August, 03:13 PM JST

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8 Comments

USNinJapan2 at 05:54 PM JST - 12th August

Wow, just when I'd been convinced here at JT that, contrary to what I'd learned through grad school, Japan had actually been earnestly trying to surrender to the Allies long before Hiroshima and Nagasaki... ; )
Alphaape at 08:06 PM JST - 12th August

USN, I imagine that if his notes would have said that he was serious about the overtures in the govt to accept the terms of Postdam, that we would have seen this all over JT, and the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have had a field day. But, since this goes contrary to what people want to hear, it gets buried in the weeds.

Not trying to rewrite history, but I think it would be safe to say that some of the leaders did not want to surrender unless they absolutely had to. No one goes to war with the idea of fighting and loosing. The fact that he felt critical of the Postdam Declaration would be normal. Only after a tremendous loss due to the atomic weapons would a military person like Tojo admit that it was time to quit, not from the postering of politicans and diplomats.
USNinJapan2 at 08:15 PM JST - 12th August

Alphaape

You mean the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings actually DID serve a purpose?! Get outta here!!! : P
kinniku at 08:52 PM JST - 12th August

Not a big surprise.
Alphaape at 09:06 PM JST - 12th August

If the IHA had any smarts, they would use this to show how Hirohito wanted peace. But to do so would imply that he was also he was implicit at the beginning. Bottom line, like it or not Truman did the right thing. Terrible as it was, it was right for the time. I imagine that if Tojo was still determined to fight, memories of Stalingrad probably remained in the minds of Truman and probably did not want US troops to go through that against Tokyo if they launched the planned invasion.
Pukey2 at 11:29 PM JST - 12th August

Tojo accused the Japanese government of being “frightened by new types of bombs (atomic bombs)

Well I'd be plssing in my pants if I knew an atomic bomb was going to drop on my head, or worse, a few kilometers from me.
OssanULTRA at 11:51 PM JST - 12th August

This shows two things about Tojo. One, that he wasn't a guy that was going to give up easily. And two, his observations about the enemy were bang on. Neither of which adds anything really new.
usaexpat at 12:14 AM JST - 13th August

This sounds about like what I would have expected, does anyone think Tojo welcomed the surrender? He wanted to fight to the death rather than give up the empire. I don't think Tojo or any of the others was really thinking clearly by the end of the war, they were on a suicide mission.