Hirohito’s surrender broadcast was transmitted at noon in Japan on August 15, 1945.
The broadcast was carried by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, now known as NHK. Listeners were instructed to prepare for an announcement of the highest importance, and the national anthem played before the emperor’s recorded message. The address announced that the Japanese government had accepted the Allied terms associated with the Potsdam Declaration.
The timing mattered because this was a nationwide public event rather than a private diplomatic communication. It allowed people across Japan to hear the emperor directly, though the formal court language and poor recording quality made the meaning unclear to some listeners. The message did not use the simplest possible wording for “surrender.”
The announcement date and the formal surrender date are different. Hirohito’s broadcast occurred on August 15, while Japanese representatives signed the Instrument of Surrender on September 2. The later ceremony legally documented the capitulation before Allied commanders.