The Hirohito surrender broadcast (Japanese: 玉音放送, Hepburn: Gyokuon-hōsō; lit. 'Broadcast of the Emperor's Voice'), was a radio broadcast of surrender given by Hirohito, the emperor of Japan, on August 15, 1945.
With historic understatement, it announced to the Japanese people that as "the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage", the Japanese government had accepted the Potsdam Declaration, which demanded the unconditional surrender of the Japanese military at the end of World War II. Following the Hiroshima bombing on August 6, and the Soviet declaration of war and Nagasaki bombing on August 9, the Emperor's speech was broadcast at noon Japan Standard Time on August 15, 1945, and referred to the atomic bombs as a reason for the surrender.
