Office of the Historian

761.94/7–2145: Telegram

No. 1225
The Japanese Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Sato) to the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs (Togo)
[Translation]
very secret
very urgent
Moscow, July 18, 1945—11:28 p.m.

1416. Re your telegram No. 913–2.1

The so-called unconditional surrender or peace obtained by some-thing close to unconditional surrender referred to in my telegram No. 13922 and others which I sent from time to time, omits the problem of protecting the fundamental character of our nation. It goes without saying that even in conducting negotiations with the Soviets on the subject of your telegram, the absolute desire on the part of 70 million citizens as regards our form of government should be forcefully stressed. Therefore I have already added a statement in the latter portion of my telegram No. 1143,3 believing that there should be no fear of a misunderstanding arising therefrom on this matter; I mention this only in order to make sure.

If the matter of the preservation of our form of government were already taken care of, whether you call it unconditional surrender or whether you call it something close to this condition, in the final analysis it is a matter of degree. As for us I think it should not be made an absolute condition. Concerning the early portion of the telegram, I would like to express my humble opinion at another time after giving the matter full consideration.

  1. i. e., paragraph 2 of document No. 1224.↩
  2. Document No. 588, printed in vol. i.↩
  3. Not printed herein. See Shusen shiroku (Tokyo, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1952), p. 466.↩