Were military commanders and radical young officers the only opponents of Japan's surrender in 1945? What of their civilian collaborators? Focusing on the “continue the war” faction, this talk highlights the role of Kishi Nobusuke--postwar prime minister and grandfather of the late Abe Shinzo--and his leadership of the National Defense Brotherhood, a radical civilian association formed of Imperial Diet members who openly opposed efforts by the Japanese government to end the war. The history of the civilian opponents of surrender, and their ferocious commitment to the New Order for East Asia, opens up a range of reflections on the militarization and radicalization of Japanese political culture in the total war era of the 1940s.