Emperor Hirohito’s recorded surrender address began broadcasting in Japan at noon on 15 August 1945. NHK transmitted the recording at 12:00 Japan Standard Time, making it a nationally scheduled moment of wartime significance.
The speech was a replay of a phonograph recording made inside the Imperial Palace late on 14 August. Hirohito recorded the rescript twice because technicians thought the first version was too quiet. The approved recording was then protected during an attempted military coup by officers who wanted to stop the broadcast.
Listeners heard the emperor’s voice for the first known time in a public broadcast. Many struggled to understand the formal court language and the poor-quality sound. The address referred to accepting the Potsdam Declaration and ending the war, rather than using a short modern phrase such as “we surrender.” Japan’s formal surrender document was signed later, on 2 September, aboard USS Missouri.