Kenji Hatanaka was a leading Japanese officer behind the Kyūjō Incident, the 1945 attempt to stop the surrender broadcast.
Hatanaka was a major in the Imperial Japanese Army and one of the chief conspirators in the attempted coup of August 14–15, 1945. The plotters occupied parts of the Imperial Palace and tried to place Emperor Hirohito under effective house arrest.
Their goal was to prevent the emperor’s recorded surrender address from reaching the Japanese public. They searched for the phonograph records containing the speech and also attempted to control broadcasting facilities. The recordings were hidden and survived the night.
The coup collapsed after the conspirators failed to secure the support of senior military commanders. Hatanaka and fellow conspirator Jirō Shiizaki later died by suicide. A common mix-up is naming War Minister Korechika Anami as the coup leader; Anami opposed surrender but did not lead the Kyūjō Incident.