"We of the peace party were assisted by the atomic bomb in our endeavor to end the war." - KÅichi Kido, one of Emperor Hirohito's closest advisers
"a golden opportunity given by heaven for Japan to end the war." - Hisatsune Sakomizu, the chief Cabinet secretary in 1945
"If a means is justified by an end, the use of the atomic bomb was justified for it brought Japan to her knees and ended the horrible war. If the war had gone longer, without the use of the atomic bomb, how many thousands and thousands of helpless men, women and children would have needlessely died and suffer ...?" - Philippine justice Delfin Jaranillla, member of the Tokyo tribunal
"I now have come to accept in my mind that in order to end the war, it could not be helped that an atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and that countless numbers of people suffered great tragedy." - Japan's first defense minister Fumio Kyuma, who is from Nagasaki, in 2007
"It's very regrettable that nuclear bombs were dropped and I feel sorry for the citizens of Hiroshima but it couldn't be helped because that happened in wartime." - Emperor mo'frackin bloody Hirohito