Kenji Hatanaka led the attempted coup in Japan’s Imperial Palace before the 1945 surrender broadcast.
The Kyūjō incident took place during the night of 14–15 August 1945. Major Kenji Hatanaka and other Japanese Army officers tried to prevent Emperor Hirohito’s recorded surrender message from being broadcast. They sought to preserve the war effort and stop the government from accepting the Potsdam Declaration.
The plotters occupied parts of the Imperial Palace and searched for the recording, but they failed to find it. Senior officers refused to support the coup, and the attempt collapsed before dawn. The recording was broadcast at noon on 15 August, announcing Japan’s acceptance of the Allied surrender terms.
The incident is also called the Kyūjō Incident or Imperial Palace Incident. Hatanaka was not Japan’s prime minister or chief of the Army General Staff. His role was that of a major in the Army Ministry, making the coup a military revolt rather than an official government decision.