Hirohito was the Japanese emperor whose 1945 broadcast announced acceptance of the surrender terms.
Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Shōwa, reigned from 1926 until his death in 1989. During the final days of World War II, he intervened in the deadlock among Japan’s leaders and supported accepting the Potsdam Declaration. His decision was communicated to the public through the Gyokuon-hōsō on August 15, 1945.
The broadcast did not use simple conversational language. It employed formal imperial speech and referred to the war’s circumstances, including the use of a new weapon, while urging the nation to endure the unavoidable. Many listeners had never heard the emperor’s voice before.
After the war, Hirohito remained emperor under Japan’s new constitutional system, but his status changed from a sovereign with divine authority to a symbolic national figure. The question of his wartime responsibility remained an important issue in postwar historical debate.