Hirohito delivered the radio broadcast announcing Japan’s acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration.
The emperor’s recording was broadcast on 15 August 1945 in what became known as the Gyokuon-hōsō, or Jewel Voice Broadcast. Hirohito read an Imperial Rescript announcing that Japan would accept the Allied terms and end the war. He did not use the ordinary, direct phrase “surrender,” and many listeners found the formal classical language difficult to understand.
The broadcast was historically remarkable because it was the first time the Japanese public had heard the emperor’s voice. The recording had been made at the Imperial Palace on August 14. During a military coup attempt, palace personnel hid the recording from officers who wanted to prevent its transmission.
Hirohito remained emperor after the war, while Japan was occupied under Allied authority led by General Douglas MacArthur. He renounced the idea of imperial divinity in the Humanity Declaration of January 1946, although the imperial institution itself continued.