Hirohito made the 1945 radio broadcast announcing Japan’s acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration.
Hirohito was Japan’s emperor from 1926 until his death in 1989. During World War II, he was known formally by his reign name, Shōwa. On August 15, 1945, a recording of his voice was broadcast nationwide through NHK, telling the Japanese people that the government had accepted the Allied declaration.
The speech followed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet declaration of war, and intense debate within Japan’s wartime leadership. Hirohito intervened in the deadlocked decision and supported surrender. His role was unusual because Japanese emperors rarely addressed ordinary citizens directly by radio.
The recording did not plainly say “surrender” in modern, direct language. Instead, it referred to accepting the terms of the “joint declaration.” Because the speech used formal Classical Japanese and had poor audio quality, many listeners initially needed explanations to understand its meaning.