Gyokuon-hōsō
The Gyokuon-hōsō record inside the NHK Museum of Broadcasting.
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| Other names | Gyokuon-hōsō, 玉音放送 |
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| Running time | 12:00 pm–12:04 pm |
| Country | Empire of Japan |
| Language(s) | Classical Japanese |
| Hosted by | Japanese Emperor Hirohito (Emperor Shōwa 昭和天皇 Shōwa-tennō) |
| Air dates | August 15, 1945 to August 15, 1945 |
The Jewel Voice Broadcast (玉音放送 Gyokuon-hōsō?) was the radio broadcast in which Japanese Emperor Hirohito (Emperor Shōwa 昭和天皇 Shōwa-tennō) read out the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War (大東亜戦争終結ノ詔書 Daitōa-sensō-shūketsu-no-shōsho?), announcing to the Japanese people that the Japanese Government had accepted the Potsdam Declaration demanding the unconditional surrender of the Japanese military at the end of World War II. This speech was broadcast at noon Japan Standard Time on August 15, 1945, after the Battle of Okinawa, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.
The speech was probably the first time that an Emperor of Japan had spoken (albeit via a phonograph record) to the common people. It was delivered in the formal, Classical Japanese that few ordinary people could easily understand. It made no direct reference to a surrender of Japan, instead stating that the government had been instructed to accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration fully. This created confusion in the minds of many listeners who were not sure whether Japan had surrendered. The poor audio quality of the radio broadcast, as well as the formal courtly language in which the speech was composed, worsened the confusion. A digitally remastered version of the broadcast was released on 30 June 2015.
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