The Hirohito surrender broadcast (, ), was a radio broadcast of surrender given by

Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

, the

emperor of Japan The emperor of Japan is the hereditary monarch and head of state of Japan. The emperor is defined by the Constitution of Japan as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, his position deriving from "the will of ...

, on August 15, 1945. Emperor Hirohito announcing the surrender of Japan

It announced to the Japanese people that the Japanese government had accepted the

Potsdam Declaration The Potsdam Declaration, or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender, was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S. Truman, ...

, which demanded the unconditional surrender of the Japanese military at the end of World War II. Following the Hiroshima bombing on August 6, and the Soviet declaration of war and Nagasaki bombing on August 9, the Emperor's speech was broadcast at noon

Japan Standard Time , or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to a ...

on August 15, 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 A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...

). 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" (the Potsdam Declaration) of the United States, the United Kingdom,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. 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.

Recording

The speech was not broadcast directly, but replayed from a phonograph recording. On August 14, 1945, the

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

dispatched sound technicians to the Imperial Palace to record the broadcast. Microphones were set up in an office bunker under the Imperial Household Ministry, and Emperor

proceeded in between 11:25p.m. and 11:30p.m. During the first recording he spoke too softly, and upon the advice of the technicians, offered to rerecord it. On the second attempt, his voice was considered too high-pitched, with occasional characters being skipped. Nevertheless, the second version was deemed the official one, with the first serving as a backup.

Broadcast

Many elements of the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

refused to accept that Hirohito was going to end the war, believing it dishonourable. As many as 1,000 officers and army soldiers raided the Imperial Palace on the evening of August 14, 1945 to destroy the recording. The rebels were confused by the layout of the palace and unable to find the recordings, which had been hidden in a pile of documents. The two phonographs were labelled ''original'' and ''copy'' and successfully smuggled out of the palace, the original in a lacquer box and the copy in a lunch bag. Major Kenji Hatanaka attempted to halt the broadcast at the NHK station, but was ordered to desist by the Eastern District Army. On the morning of August 15, 1945, all NHK stations announced that the Emperor would address the nation at noon. Many people wore formal clothes for the occasion. At precisely noon that day, an NHK announcer instructed the nation to stand for an announcement "of the highest importance." The national anthem, , was played, followed by the Emperor's speech. Reportedly, this was the first time that common Japanese had heard the voice of any Japanese Emperor and the first radio address by the Emperor. To ease the anticipated confusion, after the conclusion of the speech, a radio announcer clarified that the Emperor's message had meant that Japan was surrendering. According to French journalist

Robert Guillain Robert Guillain (4 September 1908 – 29 December 1998) was a French journalist who spent most of his career in Asia at times of momentous events, such as the Pacific War. He wrote several books on Asia, especially Japan. Guillain was considered ...

, who then lived in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, upon the announcement's conclusion, most Japanese retreated to their homes or places of business for several hours to quietly absorb and contemplate the significance of the announcement. A digitally remastered version of the broadcast was released in June 2015.

Content

Though the word "surrender" () was not explicitly used, Emperor Hirohito instructed

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Kantarō Suzuki and his cabinet to communicate to the Allies that the "Empire accepts the provisions of their joint declaration", which amounted to an acceptance of the

. He justified Japan's decision to go to war as an act of "self-preservation and the stabilization of

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

" and referenced the setbacks and defeats of recent years, saying "the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage". He mentioned the

atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, during World War II. The aerial bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civili ...

that had occurred days earlier, calling the

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear expl ...

a "new and most cruel bomb". The Emperor ended with a call on the Japanese people "to be devoted to construction for the future". Japanese civilians listening to the surrender broadcast

Japanese civilians listening to the surrender broadcast

The broadcast was translated into English and broadcast internationally by radio presenter Tadaichi Hirakawa at the same time. In the U.S., the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) recorded the broadcast, and its entire text appeared in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.

Full text

Original text

Literally translated into English:

Official English translation

Media releases

* Book includes a CD. * Book includes a CD.

Notes

References

External links

Audio recording of entire speech, in Japanese

Photo containing English text of the Emperor's declaration
*

, Birth of the Constitution of Japan, National Diet Library *
The Emperor's Speech: 67 Years Ago, Hirohito Transformed Japan Forever
, ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'', August 15, 2012, by Max Fisher {{Authority control 1945 in Japan 1945 in military history 1945 in radio 1945 speeches August 1945 in Asia Hirohito Japanese Imperial rescripts Japan in World War II Rescripts Surrender of Japan World War II speeches Decolonization of Korea Speeches by heads of state