Page 279 - Islam and Far Eastern Religions

277

Fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on the 7th of December 1941.
In this way, Japan declared war on the greatest military power on earth
and at the same time paved the way to its own demise. In the final

stages of the war, Japan decided to continue the war despite the fall of
Italy and Germany, suffering heavy losses in the process. The Second
World War was brought to an end with the two atomic bombs dropped
by American bombers on the 6th of August 1945 on Hiroshima, and on
the 9th of August 1945 on Nagasaki. More than 100,000 people per-
ished, tens of thousands suffered crippling injuries, and these two large
cities were simply wiped off the face of the earth. In addition, the Soviet
Union had declared war on Japan on August 9th, 1945 as well, and thus
created another front. Japan could no longer withstand these pressures
nd
and capitulated on the 14th of August 1945 and on the 2 of September
1945 Japan officially signed her unconditional surrender.

The Second World War also ended State Shintoism. Japan was
prohibited from forming an army or producing arms and her security
was underwritten and guaranteed by the United States. American
forces occupied all of Japan. The Japanese emperor made his historical
speech on the radio, in which he proclaimed that Japan had lost the war
and declared that he was “neither a divinity nor a sacred personali-
ty”(Surely Allah is beyond that). The empire was dissolved. Japan’s
new constitution separated the state from religion and State Shintoism
was replaced with “temple Shintoism” (Cinca Shinto).
At present temple Shintoism continues to have a relationship with
the royal family, albeit without any underlying political functions. The
emperor Hirohito who ascended to the throne in 1926, died on the 7th
of January 1989. He was succeeded by his eldest son Prince Akihito
who was crowned in November 1990. At present the emperor of Japan

is a symbolic figurehead.

Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar)