What is the common English name for Emperor Hirohito’s recorded 1945 surrender address?

Emperor Hirohito’s recorded 1945 surrender address is commonly called the Jewel Voice Broadcast.

The English name translates the Japanese term Gyokuon hōsō, which refers to the emperor’s “jewel voice.” The address was broadcast by NHK at noon on 15 August 1945. It announced that Japan had accepted the Allied terms, although its highly formal wording did not use a plain sentence such as “Japan has surrendered.”

The broadcast was historically important because it was the first known instance of a Japanese emperor speaking directly to the common people through radio. Hirohito recorded the rescript at the Imperial Palace on 14 August, and technicians prepared multiple recordings in case one was damaged or intercepted.

The name can cause confusion because it is a label for the broadcast, not the formal title of the surrender document. The document signed on 2 September was the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. The broadcast and the document therefore represent two different stages of the surrender process.