Gyokuon-hōsō was the Japanese name for Emperor Hirohito’s 1945 radio announcement of surrender.
The Japanese term is commonly translated as “Jewel Voice Broadcast.” It refers to the emperor’s recorded message transmitted at noon on 15 August 1945. Hirohito used highly formal language, and the speech announced that Japan would accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and bring the war to an end.
The recording was made on 14 August at the Imperial Palace. Several military officers attempted to prevent the broadcast during the Kyūjō incident, an unsuccessful coup attempt. The recording survived, and radio stations broadcast it nationwide the next day.
Gyokuon-hōsō is sometimes mistaken for the surrender document itself. It was not a treaty or signed agreement; it was a public imperial announcement. The legal surrender was completed later, when Japanese representatives signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri on 2 September 1945.