Even after they found out about the events at Hiroshima, the Japanese government censored reports about the atomic bomb, vehemently denying that it had been dropped on the city. The morning newspapers of August 8 revealed nothing more than that a “few enemy planes” had severely damaged Hiroshima with “a wholly new type of bomb” (The Pacific War Research Society). Citizens were kept in the dark about the situation and were simply instructed to wear white clothing in case of another attack (Priddy).

Stalin also sent 1.6 million soldiers into Manchuria, threatening the already weakened Japanese forces there. In addition, the Office of War Information ran off millions of leaflets calling Japan to give up or face nuclear attacks “again and again” until they ended the war at once (1945: Atom bomb hits Nagasaki). These leaflets contained images of the destruction caused by the atomic bomb and more than three million were dropped over the other Japanese cities (Marx 196).

However, there was still division within the Japanese cabinet. The Supreme Coucil of the Direction of War was divided between those who wanted peace, and those who wanted to continue with the war. With the cabinet locked in a stalemate, the Emperor Hirohito sided with the peace faction and advocated surrender (Priddy). On August 8, he instructed the Foreign Minister to tell the Prime Minister “that Japan must accept the inevitable and terminate the war with the least possible delay” and that there cannot be a repeat of the tragedy at Hiroshima (John T 30). However the war faction (which consisted of hard line military officers), though not daring to flatly defy the Emperor, continued to resist strongly and ultimately had a hand delaying his message to the Prime Minister. This would prove to have horrific consequences (John T 30).

SOURCES:

"1945: Atom bomb hits Nagasaki." BBC On This Day. BBC. 24 Jul. 2005 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/9/newsid_3580000/3580143.stm>.

John T, Correll. "The Decision That Launched the Enola Gay." Air Force Magazine April 1994: 30

Marx, Joseph L. Seven Hours to Zero. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1967.

Priddy, Robert. "Concerning the Atomic Bombing of Japan." Hiroshima's unavoidability?. 1995. 13 Jul. 2005 <http://home.no.net/rrpriddy/Nos/hir.html>.

The Manhattan Engineer District. "Chapter 7 - The Attacks." The Avalon Project: The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 13 Jul. 2005. The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School. 13 Jul. 2005 <http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/abomb/mp07.htm#h>.

The Pacific War Research Society. The Day Man Lost. Japan: Kondasha International Ltd, 1972.