Hirohito delivered the 1945 radio broadcast announcing Japan’s acceptance of the surrender terms.
The broadcast aired at noon Japan Standard Time on August 15, 1945. Hirohito, formally known as Emperor Shōwa, read an imperial rescript stating that Japan had accepted the Allied terms in the Potsdam Declaration. The speech did not use a simple conversational announcement that Japan had surrendered, so some listeners were initially unsure of its meaning.
The broadcast was historically significant because it was the first time ordinary Japanese people had heard the voice of their emperor. It used highly formal Classical Japanese, which was difficult for many listeners to understand. Radio announcers clarified afterward that the message meant Japan was ending the war.
Hirohito is sometimes confused with later emperor Akihito, who reigned from 1989 to 2019. The broadcast was recorded at the Imperial Palace and transmitted by NHK. Japan’s formal legal surrender followed later, when representatives signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri on September 2.