In 2007, a 90-year-old Studs Terkel interviewed an 87-year-old Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay:
Unknown to anybody else — I knew it, but nobody else knew — there was a third one. See, the first bomb went off and they didn’t hear anything out of the Japanese for two or three days. The second bomb was dropped and again they were silent for another couple of days.
Then I got a phone call from General Curtis LeMay [chief of staff of the strategic air forces in the Pacific]. He said, “You got another one of those damn things?”
I said, “Yes sir.”
He said, “Where is it?”
I said, “Over in Utah.”
He said, “Get it out here. You and your crew are going to fly it.”
I said, “Yes sir.” I sent word back and the crew loaded it on an airplane and we headed back to bring it right on out to Tinian and when they got it to California debarkation point, the war was over.
(Hat tip to our Slovenian guest.)
And even that lukewarm surrender almost didn’t come to be:
“Many elements of the Japanese military were extremely opposed to the idea that Hirohito was going to end the war, as they believed that this was dishonorable. Consequently, as many as one thousand officers attempted to raid the Imperial palace on the evening of August 14, to destroy the recording. The recording was successfully smuggled out of the palace in a laundry basket of women’s underwear and broadcast the following day, although another attempt was made to stop it from being played at the radio station.”
It was sort of a back handed compliment, that speech:
“We declared war out of Our sincere desire to ensure Japan’s self-preservation and the stabilization of East Asia it being far from Our thought either to infringe upon the sovereignty of other nations or to embark upon territorial aggrandizement.”
“Should We continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.”
“We have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable.”
You see, Hirohito was a humanitarian. But he probably did regret the timing:
In his speech at the surrender ceremonies, MacArthur said:
“The energy of the Japanese race, if properly directed, will enable expansion vertically rather than horizontally. If the talents of the race are turned into constructive channels, the country can lift itself from the present deplorable state into a position of dignity.”
Hirohito, listening to his radio, was impressed. His aide, Kase Toshikazu, told him that it was “rare good fortune” that a man of such caliber and character had been designated supreme commander to shape the destiny of Japan. Hirohito agreed.
(Found at http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch23ja8.htm)
After the war a whole new set of problems came up:
“One of the biggest concerns of the Japanese government after the announcement by Hirohito on August 15 was to find “comfort girls” who would serve as a buffer to protect the chastity of the majority of the Japanese women from the occupation troops. Government funds were used to set up the “Recreation and Amusement Association” for this purpose. Ironically most Japanese prostitutes resisted recruitment since they believed wartime propaganda cartoons portraying Americans as having oversized sex organs and they didn’t want to risk bodily injury. Therefore, other women had to be recruited into the “buffer zone.””
(Ten Things You Don’t Know about the Japanese.)
The interview link to AVweb is broken, but as of January 2014, it is still up, here or printable here.
And in case it goes down, the wayback machine mirror!