Who delivered Japan’s surrender announcement in the Hirohito surrender broadcast?

Emperor Hirohito delivered Japan’s surrender announcement in the Hirohito surrender broadcast.

The broadcast aired at noon in Japan on August 15, 1945. Hirohito announced that Japan had accepted the Allied terms in the Potsdam Declaration, although he used formal language rather than a simple conversational statement that Japan had surrendered.

The speech was historically significant because it was the first known time ordinary Japanese people heard their emperor’s voice. Hirohito spoke in formal classical Japanese, and the poor sound quality made parts of the message difficult for many listeners to understand.

The recording had been made on August 14 and was secretly protected after a group of military officers attempted to prevent the broadcast. The announcement followed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet declaration of war against Japan.