Hirohito surrender broadcast

Hirohito surrender broadcast

The Gyokuon-hōsō record inside the NHK Museum of Broadcasting
Other names	Gyokuon-hōsō 玉音放送
Running time	4 minutes, 36 seconds
Country of origin	Empire of Japan
Language(s)	Classical Japanese
Home station	NHK
Narrated by	Hirohito
Recording studio	Imperial Palace, Tokyo
Original release	August 15, 1945 (1945-08-15) 12:00 p.m. – 12:04 p.m.

The Hirohito surrender broadcast was a radio broadcast of surrender given by Hirohito, the emperor of Japan, on 15 August 1945.

It announced to the Japanese people that the Japanese government had accepted the Potsdam Declaration demanding the unconditional surrender of the Japanese military at the end of World War II. Following the Hiroshima bombing on August 6, the Soviet declaration of war and the Nagasaki bombing on August 9, the Emperor's speech was broadcast at noon Japan Standard Time on 15 August 1945, and referred to the atomic bombs as a reason for the surrender.

The speech is the first known instance of a Japanese emperor speaking to the common people (albeit via a phonograph record). It was delivered in formal Classical Japanese, with much pronunciation unfamiliar to ordinary Japanese. The speech made no direct reference to a surrender of Japan, instead stating that the government had been instructed to accept the "joint declaration" of the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and the Soviet Union. This confused many listeners not familiar with the declaration about whether Japan had actually surrendered. Both the poor audio quality of the radio broadcast and the formal courtly language worsened the confusion.