Hirohito Quotes
I cannot bear to see my innocent people suffer any longer. Ending the war is the only way to restore world peace and to relieve the nation from the terrible distress with which it is burdened.
On August 14, Japan announced its surrender
Hirohito, 1901-1990, Emperor of Japan, Message to the Japanese Supreme Council, August 9, 1945
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This statement was a subtle rebuke to then Japanese Prime Minister Abe who argued for an end to Japanese apologies for WWII. Unlike Germany where politicians led national efforts not only to apologize to the victims of German aggression and atrocities, Japan's politicians have been much less courageous and moral. As of this speech, for example, Japan not only had never apologized to the remaining living "comfort women" who the Japanese forced into sex-slaves for military "morale", or for many of the other even worse atrocities. Many Japanese, including politicians, even denied that these events had taken place and tried to rewrite history, not unlike Holocaust deniers. Abe, whose grandfather, was a member of the WWII Imperial War Cabinet that authorized all this militarism and aggression, has even publicly prayed at the tombs of some of the worst of the Japanese war criminals.
The documentation of this quotation comes from a memorandum summarizing the meeting written by Presidential aide Harry Hopkins.
Emperor Shōwa, better known in English by his personal name Hirohito (裕仁), was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, ruling over the Empire of Japan from 25 December 1926 until 2 May 1947, after which he was Emperor of the state of Japan until his death. He was succeeded by his fifth child and eldest son, Akihito. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had seven children, two sons and five daughters. By 1979, Hirohito was the only monarch in the world with the title "emperor." Hirohito was the longest-lived and longest-reigning historical Japanese emperor and one of the longest-reigning monarchs in the world.
