Who gave Japan's recorded surrender announcement broadcast on August 15, 1945?

Emperor Hirohito gave Japan's recorded surrender announcement broadcast on August 15, 1945.

The speech, known as the Gyokuon-hōsō or “Jewel Voice Broadcast,” was transmitted at noon Japan Standard Time. Hirohito told the Japanese people that the government had accepted the terms of the Allied declaration calling for Japan's surrender. The broadcast followed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's entry into the war against Japan.

It was the first time many ordinary Japanese people had heard the emperor's voice. The recording was difficult for listeners to understand because Hirohito used formal Classical Japanese and the audio quality was poor. He did not use a simple direct phrase equivalent to “Japan surrenders”; instead, he referred to accepting the joint declaration.

The broadcast announced the surrender publicly, but it did not replace the formal signing. That legal ceremony occurred aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.