Korechika Anami died by ritual suicide on the day Japan’s surrender was announced in 1945.
Anami served as Japan’s Minister of War during the final weeks of World War II. He was one of the senior officials who resisted immediate acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration and favored continuing the war. The Emperor’s intervention finally broke the deadlock in favor of surrender.
On August 15, 1945, Japan’s surrender announcement was broadcast to the public. Anami died by seppuku that same day at his Tokyo residence. He left a short farewell note expressing regret for failing to prevent Japan’s defeat, though accounts differ in how his final actions and words should be interpreted.
Anami’s death is sometimes confused with the later attempted military coup known as the Kyūjō incident. That coup sought to prevent the surrender broadcast from being transmitted and involved other officers. Anami was not the leader of the coup; he was the serving war minister who accepted the Emperor’s decision while personally opposing surrender.