NHK transmitted Emperor Hirohito’s surrender announcement to Japan in 1945. The national broadcaster aired the recorded speech at noon Japan Standard Time on August 15.
The speech was not broadcast live. NHK technicians recorded Hirohito reading the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War at the Imperial Palace during the night of August 14–15. The first recording was considered unsatisfactory, so the Emperor made a second recording, which became the version transmitted to the public.
Many listeners had never heard the Emperor’s voice before. The recording was difficult to understand because it used formal Classical Japanese, unfamiliar pronunciation, and the era’s poor radio sound quality. Hirohito did not use a simple direct sentence saying “Japan surrenders”; instead, he announced acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration and referred to the destructive power of a new bomb. NHK remains Japan’s national public broadcaster today.