▲ Emperor Hirohito and General MacArthur, at the U.S. Embassy, Tokyo, 27 September, 1945

Several key events between 1945 and 1952 help us understand the conclusion of the Second World War in the Pacific. The signing of Japan's formal surrender aboard the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945, marked the official end of hostilities. The Treaty of San Francisco, signed in 1951 and enacted in 1952, established the legal framework for peace. But perhaps the most symbolically significant moment occurred on August 15, 1945: an unprecedented address by Hirohito, Japan's 124th emperor.

For the first time in history, the Japanese people heard the voice of their emperor. The speech—now known as the Gyokuon-hōsō, or "Jewel Voice Broadcast"—marked Japan's acceptance of the Allies'terms and effectively signaled the end of World War II in the Pacific. Yet the address, delivered in highly formal and archaic court language, was laden with ambiguities.

It came in the context of the war's catastrophic final stage. On August 6 and 9, 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, introducing the world to the devastating power of nuclear warfare. Almost simultaneously, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and launched a large-scale invasion of Japanese-occupied Manchuria. Confronted with overwhelming military defeat, the threat of full-scale invasion, and immense civilian suffering, Japan's leaders were forced to contemplate what, for them, had once been unimaginable: surrendering a war they had begun in the 1930s against China and, since the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, against the United States and its allies.

Emperor Hirohito never used the word "surrender." Instead, he spoke of "enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable" to "pave the way for a grand peace for all generations to come." This ambiguous phrasing reflected both the cultural stigma attached to defeat in Japan and a carefully calibrated attempt to preserve the imperial institution. As a figure long regarded as divine, Hirohito could not openly admit failure without risking national upheaval.

Equally notable was what Hirohito left unsaid. He offered no apology for Japan's role in the war or the suffering inflicted across China, Asia, and the Pacific. Instead, he portrayed the decision to end the conflict as an act of benevolence—one intended to spare the Japanese people from complete destruction by the "new and most cruel bomb." In this way, the narrative shifted from defeat to sacrifice, allowing the emperor to maintain his dignity while avoiding accountability.

What followed was both historically significant and deeply controversial. Emperor Hirohito was never held responsible for Japan's wartime actions, including atrocities committed by the Imperial Army in places like Nanjing, Korea, and Southeast Asia. This outcome was shaped in part by General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in occupied Japan.

In 1946, MacArthur explicitly conveyed his reasoning in a message to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who at that time was serving as Army Chief of Staff in Washington. Eisenhower, a former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe and one of the principal architects of the victory against Nazi Germany, was deeply involved in postwar military planning. In his communication, MacArthur argued that prosecuting the emperor could provoke widespread unrest, potentially destabilizing the occupation and jeopardizing efforts to rebuild Japan as a peaceful, democratic nation. Preserving Hirohito's symbolic position—albeit without real power—was, in MacArthur's view, a necessary compromise.

MacArthur also understood the emperor's enduring role as a unifying symbol. Under the new constitution, enacted in 1947, Hirohito renounced his divine status and was redefined as a "symbol of the State and of the unity of the people." While stripped of all political authority, he remained on the throne until his death in 1989. Due to the shielding policies of the American occupation, his wartime actions were never subjected to legal scrutiny.

One of the most iconic moments of this complex transition came in late September 1945, when Emperor Hirohito paid a visit to the American Embassy in Tokyo to meet General MacArthur. A historic photograph captured their encounter. In the image, MacArthur, dressed casually in an open-collar shirt and standing tall and relaxed, towers over the formally dressed, diminutive Hirohito, who appears stiff and solemn. The photograph was intentionally released by the American authorities. It was a powerful visual metaphor: the Allied victor standing beside the once-divine emperor, now humbled. For many Japanese, the image was shocking—some even considered it disrespectful. But for the Americans, it symbolized the shift in power and the beginning of a new era.

Part of their conversation was private, attended only by a single interpreter. Much like the August 15 broadcast, the encounter embodied the uneasy compromises required to shape the aftermath of a devastating conflict—one in which hatred, demonization, and unspeakable suffering had become the norm. It was a moment at once humble and historic, awkward and strategic—a moment that distilled the very shadows of peace that must follow the fog of war.