Just as he dithered over going to war with the US, Hirohito was hopelessly ambivalent about how to end it. The new record reports that Hirohito told his closest adviser, Privy Seal Kōichi Kido, on September 26, 1944: “If one could come to a peace without the question of disarmament or war responsibility, I don’t care [if] our conquered territories [are taken away].”