Stunning restored footage of the Japanese Surrender on the USS Missouri, 80 years ago!

[YoshidaYui]

[Irish_Dem]

1. Was that Hirohito on horseback in the beginning of the video?

[betsuni]

5. Yes.

[Irish_Dem]

8. He did not attend the surrender ceremony.

So it must have been from another clip.

He did make a radio announcement.
The first time his voice had ever been heard by the Japanese people who considered
him a god.

[CatWoman]

11. I remember reading they weren't even allowed to look at him

[Irish_Dem]

12. They believed the Emperor was a direct descendant of God.

Therefore he was given the utmost respect and yes at one time
subjects were not allowed to look directly at the Emperor.

The first time the Japanese people had ever even heard the Emperor's
voice was at the time of the surrender to the US after WWII.

This is part of the reason Truman felt he had no option but to drop the bomb
on Japan.

The Japanese people saw their Emperor as God and all of his orders
must be obeyed with no questions asked, no doubt, no hesitation.

As the American soldiers fought across the Pacific to invade Japan as the goal,
and neared Tokyo, the emperor ordered all men, women, children and older people
to fight to the death when invaded. Women and even young children were given
fighting lessons including sword tactics, etc.

The emperor had given the same order to the male Japanese soldiers fighting in the Pacific.
The fighting was particularly brutal and resulted in 36 million dead, soldiers and civilians
just in the Pacific theater of war.

So the American invasion of Japan would have been a blood bath with the American GIs fighting against women and kids.

Two million at the minimum estimated dead. Because the emperor had ordered fight to the death against
the Americans.

I was against Truman dropping the bomb until I started studying WWII and looked at the facts.
I still wish there had been another way.

I lived in Japan for a big chunk of my childhood during the Viet Nam war due to being a military kid.
I loved Japan, the people, the customs, all of it. They are an extremely bright and clever people.
Also artistic, very clean and neat, polite and well mannered. To this day I love all things Asian.
I will be signing up for a Japanese flower arranging class soon. Not just to learn to arrange flowers
but to hang around Japanese culture and feel right at home.

[CatWoman]

14. i have three mixed cousins, half japanese and half black

they are all so very handsome and beautiful.

I was named for their mom, my aunt Midori.

People can be so stupid -- I was thought by some of being named for a bottle of liqueur.

[Irish_Dem]

15. Midori is a beautiful name.

Youth, vitality, life, nature.
Growth and harmony.

Yes the mixed race asians are exceptionally beautiful.

[Irish_Dem]

2. Yes stunning video of very historic and solemn occasion.

[a kennedy]

3. Wow, wow, wow!!!

[efhmc]

4. Thank you. That is amazing. How can I find this on line to send to my gsons?

[Deuxcents]

6. Thanks for posting..a lot to think about..so many sacrifices

[Wonder Why]

7. It looks like a poorly made AI version to me. Not saying it is. It just looks that way.

[dsp3000]

10. Agreed. this looks like AI

[Igel]

13. It acknowledged that the bit where Hirohito is speaking was AI generated.

So, yeah, part is.

The restoration may have been repaired (like, perhaps, colorization), by computer. "AI" doesn't necessarily mean "LLM."

[msongs]

9. hope the original black and white with sound is still around - that's the historical record nt