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

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

The broadcast was the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War, delivered in formal Classical Japanese and transmitted by NHK at noon Japan Standard Time. Hirohito stated that Japan had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, although he did not use a simple conversational phrase equivalent to “Japan surrenders.”

For most listeners, the broadcast was historically extraordinary because it was the first time the voice of a Japanese emperor had been heard publicly by ordinary Japanese people. The recording was made the previous night inside the Imperial Palace and replayed rather than transmitted live.

The speech followed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union’s entry into the war against Japan. Its formal language and poor audio quality made it difficult for many listeners to understand immediately, so radio announcers clarified that the message meant Japan was ending the war.