Major Kenji Hatanaka led the failed Kyūjō Incident against Japan’s surrender in August 1945.
The attempted coup took place during the night of August 14–15, 1945, just before Hirohito’s surrender broadcast. Hatanaka and other officers sought to prevent the emperor’s recorded message from being transmitted and tried to place Hirohito under house arrest.
The rebels occupied parts of the Tokyo Imperial Palace and searched for the recordings of the emperor’s speech. They failed to find and destroy them because palace staff had hidden the records. The rebels also struggled to obtain support from senior Army commanders.
The coup collapsed before the broadcast proceeded at noon on August 15. Hatanaka and several other leaders later committed suicide. The incident is sometimes confused with a broad popular uprising, but it was an organized military attempt by officers opposed to the emperor’s decision to surrender.