NHK transmitted Hirohito’s surrender announcement to the Japanese public in 1945.
NHK was Japan’s national broadcasting organization, then known in English as the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. Its technicians recorded Hirohito reading the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War inside the Imperial Palace.
The recording was made late on August 14, after cabinet debates over the wording. Hirohito made two takes; the second was selected for broadcast. NHK aired it at noon on August 15, following an announcement that an important imperial message would be heard.
The broadcast was not a live speech. It was a playback of a phonograph recording, and the formal language made it hard for many listeners to understand. NHK’s role helped turn the emperor’s recorded voice into the defining public sound of Japan’s surrender.