Who delivered Japan’s recorded surrender broadcast to the Japanese people on August 15, 1945?

Emperor Hirohito delivered Japan’s recorded surrender broadcast to the Japanese people on August 15, 1945.

The broadcast was formally known as the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War and is commonly called the Jewel Voice Broadcast, or Gyokuon-hōsō. Hirohito announced that Japan had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, though he used formal classical Japanese and did not plainly say, in simple words, “Japan has surrendered.”

The speech was recorded the previous night inside the Imperial Palace and broadcast at noon Japan Standard Time. It was the first time many ordinary Japanese people had heard the voice of their emperor. Poor sound quality and the highly formal language made the message difficult for many listeners to understand.

The broadcast followed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union’s entry into the war against Japan. The formal surrender document was signed later, on September 2, aboard USS Missouri.