Eighty years ago Japan surrenders formally and a new ruler is installed

 

When Emperor Hirohito had announced Japan's surrender, the nation was in a quite different situation to Germany. The vast bulk of its core territory - above all the home islands - were unoccupied. Its government was intact. Substantial Japanese forces were still in control of large areas which had been conquered mostly during the war. The practicalities of ending the war and enforcing Allied will on the country would be quite different.

Unlike in Europe the USA was by far the dominant power militarily in the region. The British army which had just driven the Japanese from Burma was too far away to weigh heavily in the balance of power. Moreover, Britain had an interest in reaffirming its role in the imperial possessions lost to Japan in 1941 and 1942; British forces reoccupied Hong Kong and Singapore. Apart from seizing desirable territory the Soviet Union had no particular goals. It would have been only a junior partner in the occupation of Japan. 

The fate of Japan lay not merely in the hands of a single nation but was dominated by a single individual. The occupation of Japan would be controlled by General Douglas Macarthur, newly named as Supreme Commander Allied Powers, who now landed in Japan with the lead elements of the units taking the Japanese home islands. Macarthur was the senior US officer in the theatre and, whilst the assault on Japan had been primarily a US Navy affair, the occupation would be the task of the army. Macarthur was in no way reluctant to undertake the mission and there were no obvious rivals.

In a symbol of political continuity Emperor Hirohito opened a new session of the Japanese Diet. Japan's supreme head was not merely alive - in contrast to his German and Italian counterparts - but still in authority. Moreover Hirohito did not participate in the ceremonial signature of the Instrument of Surrender on the deck of USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Apart from the Foreign Minister and two men from his ministry,  the entire Japanese delegation was military. All the allied powers were represented by senior military officers but only the US flag was flown at all prominently.

In a foretaste of its later problems the British coal mining industry was exhorted to produce the maximum of fuel ahead of the winter. The newly appointed minister for power, extreme left-winger, Emmanuel Shinwell seemed more interested  in taking wage control out of the hands of the managers of the industry which was still in private hands.