Press translations [Japan]. Political Series 0208, 1946-01-20.
Date20 January, 1946
RepositoryRauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College.
Call Numberpolitical-0858
Call NumberDS801 .S85
Persistent Identifier
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POLITICAL SERIES: 208
ITEM 1 HONDA Sheds Tears at the Kindness of United States Soldiers; HIRATE Case At YOKOHAMA
-
Mainichi Shimbun - 19 Jan 146. Translator: K. Murakami.
Full Translation:
The UNITED STATES Court-Martial of HONDA, Horoji, former commandant of the ONAHAMA
Prisoners of War Camp in SENDAI District,
which was scheduled to open on 18 January in the second hall of the YOKOHAMA Local
Court, was adjourned until the following
day for Captain Coleman's own reasons.
When HONDA noticed the faces of acquaintances from his native place, he thought that
he would not be permitted to talk with
them, as is the custom in Japanese trials. He only gave a brief salute to his friends,
thereby expressing his utmost
gratitude.
A young American second lieutenant defense attorney for HONDA, quickly observing
this scene, asked him, "Are they your
family?" HONDA replied "Oh, yes! They are my family and friends."
HONDA and his comrades were separated by the paling of the court. His stiff face
was flushed with excitement. His visitors,
who thought it could only be a dream to be able to talk with him, were so greatly
moved at his realization of their dream that
they could scarcely utter a single word. Moreover, when this second lieutenant told
SAITO, Katsu, HONDA's stepmother, (66
year's old), "Captain MARCH is a famous lawyer and a Congressman in the UNITED STATES
and is a very good defense attorney for
HONDA."
The old woman, shedding tears of joy, murmured, "Alas! how glad his wife and baby
will be when I tell them this!"
Captain MARCH, listening to this conversation, presented cigarettes to the group,
saying with a smile, "How do you like
cigarettes?" A military police standing behind him, kindly offered a lighter to them.
Everyone in the hall was deeply
impressed with the unspeakable kindness of UNITED STATES soldiers.
When on duty in the court, they are indeed very business-like and do their duty with
determination, but when off duty, all
officers and men are as kind as is shown above.
Since HONDA is tried and defended by such persons, the verdict must absolutely be
just, even if it is a sentence of death. The
cheerful countenances of HONDA and his group, were seen, to be illuminated by the
setting sun, shining through the
window.
The 5th session of the trial for HIRATE was opened at 9 a.m., 18 January. Commander
EMOTO, Shigeo, former commandant of the
HAKODATE Prisoners of War Camp, who appeared in the court as a witness
POLITICAL SERIES: 208 (Continued)
ITEM 1 (Continued)
for the defendant, emphatically testified that HIRATE made efforts to improve the
facilities of the camp after he came there.
Then, Mr. SAKANASHI, Hitoshi, head of the Labor Section of the MITSUI ASHIBETSU Mining
Company, testified that none of
prisoners were made to work in the shafts, on HIRATE's own request, and that a man
named HIRADO of the Company had once struck
a Dutch prisoner, but, Lieutenant HIRATE was not authorized to punish the man. After
this testimony, the court went into
recess.
In the afternoon, after several questions had been put by the judge to Mr. SAKANASHI,
the defense asked Second Lieutenant
RABINOWITZ, staff of the American Prisoners of War Information Bureau, and ex-Major
TAKATSUTA, (TN: possibly misprint of
TAKADA) counsellor of the Japanese War Prisoners Information Bureau, to appear in
the court. He presented a report of Dr.
BERNARD, attache to the Swiss Legation and representative of Japan's interest, when
he inspected, at JAPAN'S own request, the
HAKODATE Prison Camp on 31 August, 1944. After Second Lieutenant RABINOWITZ had testified
that this document was genuine, the
defense questioned Mr. TAKADA, on many points about conditions at the camp, based
on the report. The court then closed
1600.
ITEM 2 Actual Situation At the Time of Surrender (6) - Asahi Shimbun - 19 Jan 46.
Translator:
J.Weiller.
Summary:
Admiral ONISHI suddenly appeared at the above mentioned interview between the Foreign
Minister and the two chiefs of the
General Staff at about 2300 on the 13th, in order to report the result of his interview
with Prince TAKAMATSU to the chief of
the Naval General Staff.
After reporting that the Prince had declared the Emperor's opinion had been so decided
that there was no hope of changing his
mind, the admiral added that if the Army could work out tactics which would be worthy
of His Majesty's trust, there might be a
chance of asking him to reconsider; therefore, he hoped that the decision for the
termination of war might be postponed for
some time in order to devise a definite strategy.
The Admiral continued by saying, "Since the beginning of the present war I have considered
day and night what the best ways
are for dealing with the situation, but during the past few days I discovered that
my ideas were far from worthy of real
consideration. I have meditated these past few days as I have never done before. Though
we did not notice the fact, we have
never given the war our serious thought and it may be so with the whole nation in
that respect. If we review the war with this
in mind, I am sure we can work out some excellent tactics that may put His Majesty
at case."
He stated this slowly and with tears in his eyes. All present were struck by his
sincerity, but the two chiefs kept their
silence. The Admiral stayed after the conference had ended and grasping my hand, asked
me if there were no bright ideas and
left the room looking forlorn, My heart is filled with emotion concerning the Admiral
since he took his own life soon after
the end of war.
On 18 August, the Prime Minister, after making arrangements with me retired to the
Imperial presence and reported the process
to the Throne. Soon after the Premier returned to his official residence, Imperial
summons were issued to the Cabinet,
Ministers, Chiefs of the Army and Navy General Staffs, the President of the Privy
Council,
- 2 -
POLITICAL SERIES: 208 (Continued)
ITEM 2 (Continued)
the Chief Secretary of the Cabinet, and four others who were the directors of the
Supreme War Guidance Council.
As a Cabinet meeting was scheduled for 1000 hours, all the members of the Cabinet
had already assembled at the Premier's
official residence, and as there was no time for them to change their clothes for
the special occasion, they proceeded to the
Palace in ordinary dress and were seated in the same room in which the previous conference
was held. With the Emperor's
entrance, the first conference called by Imperial summons was about to begin.
The conference began with the Prime Minister's report on events since the previous
conference. This was followed by statements
from the two Chiefs and the Minister of War to the effect that according to the Allied
Countries' reply, it looked as though
the situation would be difficult and that inquirees should be made to ascertain just
what the surrender terms would be. Rather
than terminate the war in such an uncertain way, it would be advisable to carry on
the war, in the hope of finding the one
lucky chance in a hundred. Everyone spoke with sob-filled voices; the gathering presented
a solemn scene.
After listening to a opinions of the three, His Majesty said that if there were no
other opinions he would express his own. He
said that his opinion was the same as that which he held at the conference on the
9th and that he considered the present form
of the Allies reply satisfactory. In the short interval of silence the Emperor wiped
his glasses with his white gloved hand
and then resumed his speech expressing his deep sympathies toward those killed and
wounded in the war, their families, and
those suffering as a result of war and bomb damages, "But", he went on, "since there
is no other means of preserving the
Nation, I must make this decision in spite of unbearable humility."
Soon after the Emperor began to speak all those present began to sob. The scene in
the room can never be discribed by ordinary
phraseology. When, however, the Emperor went on to touch upon the reconstruction of
the country, those present felt the dawn
of a new era for JAPAN.
All the Emperor's words are in the rescript and I hope the public will read it once
more. In preserving JAPAN, the Emperor
considers that only the people are dependable and hope that those who tried to resort
to rash acts will live to serve the
country. Not a trace of contemplated revenge can be detected in his speeches. With
his immeasurable mercifulness, he only
desires the people's welfare and a chance of JAPAN'S contributing to world peace as
a member of the family of nations. That is
why he directed the carrying out of the POTSDAM Declaration with the hope that the
country might be rebuilt as a peaceful
nation based on democracy. For the attainment of this objective, he made up his mind
to end the war without giving the
slightest consideration to his own interests. After the withdrawal of the Imperial
Presence all the ministers, in their
ecstacy remarked to one another that they had descovered that His Majesty lived in
his subjects, more than they had ever
realized before.
The Emperor proposed to announce to the Nation this decision by radio, as he anticipated
the shock it would cause to the
people who had been kept from the truth till then. He also intimated that he might
pacify the soldiers and sailors by radio
broadcast, for to them, the shock would be even greater. But both the ministers of
War and Navy respectfully stated that they
would undertake the task themselves as they deemed it inexecusable to trouble the
Emperor over this matter. The Emperor
ordered the Government to draft a rescript at once regarding the termination of the
war and submit it to them.
- 3 -
POLITICAL SERIES: 208 (Continued)
ITEM 3 Premier To Name Directive Victime - Nippon Sangyo Keizai - 19 Jan 46. Translator:
S.
Sano.
Full Translation:
Definite measures we being planned by the Government to expel the militaristic leaders
who fall under MacARTHUR's directive
issued on 4 January. The outline of the Imperial ordinance regarding the prohibition
of holding posts, as based on the
Imperial ordinance which deals with the fulfilment of the POTSDAM Declaration, (The
52nd Imperial ordinance 1945) was taken up
at the Cabinet meeting on 18 January.
As the bill was given a detailed explanation by the chief secretary of the Cabinet,
NARAHASHI, it is to be referred to the
Privy Council for deliberation after gaining the consent of Allied authorities. The
points for which consent must be gained
are as follows:
- 1.The persons who fall under the article of dismissal from public posts are named by the Premier, and are excluded from holding the position of mayor, or member of the House of Representatives; at the moment they are to retire from all posts higher than that of official appointed by the Emperor (CHOKUNIN-KAN), and will lose their position as members of the Imperial Diet.
- 2.The persons who come under the directive can not run in the mutual voting election and have no right to be elected as a "high tax" member in the House of Peers.
- 3.The reports of the candidates for membership in the House of Representatives or their recommendations as election chiefs can not be accepted unless it is obtain that they do not full under the directive. Furthermore, after gaining the consent of MacARTHUR's Headquarters, the presentation of lists of names, deliberation by the Privy Council, and the decision of the Deliberative Committee Meeting, the persons affected by the directive are to be named by the Premier. Therefore, because of the various processes, a month more will be necessary to decide on the persons who fall under the directive.
Articles decided on at the cabinet meeting on 18 January are as follows:
- 1.The revision of a section in the Law of the Marine Products Association. (Law 59, 1945.)
- 2.The revision of a section in the regulations of the Law of the Marine Products Association.
- 3.The prohibition of international agreements, as laid down in the POTSDAM Declaration. (Imperial Ordinance 542, 1945).
- 4.The revision of a section in the regulations concerning the supply of clothing to officials in prison.
- 5.Measures regarding the making of metal goods in the mint.
- 6.Doing away with the custody of the money contributed for the defense of the country at the time of the Great EAST ASIA War. (Imperial Ordinance 585, 1937.)
DISTRIBUTION: "X"
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