NHK transmitted Emperor Hirohito’s 1945 surrender address to Japan.
NHK was then known as the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. Its stations broadcast the recorded Imperial Rescript at noon on 15 August 1945. The address became the first widely heard radio speech by a reigning Japanese emperor and was a historic moment for the Japanese public.
NHK technicians recorded Hirohito at the Imperial Palace the previous night. The recording was made twice because the first version was considered unsuitable. During the early hours of August 15, soldiers involved in an attempted coup tried to locate and destroy the recording, but they failed. The recording was transported safely to the broadcaster.
The speech’s sound quality was poor, and Hirohito used formal Classical Japanese rather than everyday language. As a result, many listeners struggled to understand its meaning. The address also avoided a plain spoken declaration such as “Japan surrenders,” instead saying that the government had accepted the Allied declaration.
NHK is sometimes confused with Radio Tokyo, a wartime English-language nickname associated with Japanese overseas broadcasts. The domestic broadcaster responsible for Hirohito’s announcement was NHK’s predecessor, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation.