Jewel Voice Broadcast by the Emperor Showa following effective surrender of Japan in the World War II, Korea gains Independence from the Empire of Japan.
The Hirohito surrender broadcast (Japanese: 玉音放送, Hepburn: Gyokuon-hōsō, "broadcast in the emperor's voice", sometimes mistranslated as the "Jewel Voice Broadcast" based on a literal translation of 玉音) was a radio broadcast of surrender given by Japanese Emperor Hirohito (Shōwa) on August 15, 1945. It announced 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. Following the Hiroshima bombing on August 6, the Soviet declaration of war and the 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.
The speech is the first known instance of an Emperor of Japan speaking to the common people (albeit via a phonograph record). It was delivered in formal Classical Japanese, with much pronunciation unfamiliar to ordinary Japanese. The speech made no direct reference to a surrender of Japan, instead stating that the government had been instructed to accept the "joint declaration" of the United States, the United Kingdom, China and the USSR (though the USSR was not, in fact, party to the declaration). This confused many listeners not familiar with the declaration whether Japan had actually surrendered. Both the poor audio quality of the radio broadcast and the formal courtly language worsened the confusion. A digitally-remastered version of the broadcast was released in June 2015.