Who was Japan's emperor when Japan surrendered in 1945?

Hirohito was Japan’s emperor when Japan surrendered in 1945.

Hirohito, formally known by his posthumous name Emperor Shōwa, reigned from 1926 until his death in 1989. During the final days of World War II, he took part in the imperial conferences that considered whether Japan should accept the Allied surrender terms.

His intervention helped break a deadlock among Japan’s leaders. After the United States responded to Japan’s conditional surrender proposal and the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan, Hirohito supported accepting the Potsdam Declaration. He recorded the surrender rescript on August 14, and it was broadcast the following day.

The broadcast was historically significant because it was the first time many ordinary Japanese people had heard the emperor’s voice. Hirohito continued as emperor after the war, but Japan’s constitutional system was transformed during the Allied occupation. Akihito, the future emperor, was Hirohito’s son and did not become emperor until 1989.