Editing Hirohito surrender broadcast (section)

== Content ==
{{listen |type=sound |filename=Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War.ogg |title=The {{Transliteration|ja|Gyokuon-hōsō}}, the radio broadcast in which Hirohito read the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War, August 15, 1945}}

Though the word "surrender" ({{Langx|ja|降伏|kōfuku}}) was not explicitly used, Emperor Hirohito instructed [[Prime Minister of Japan|Prime Minister]] [[Kantarō Suzuki]] and [[Kantarō Suzuki Cabinet|his administration]] to communicate to the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] that the "Empire accepts the provisions of their joint declaration", which amounted to an acceptance of the [[Potsdam Declaration]].<ref name=Rescript/> He justified Japan's decision to go to war as an act of "self-preservation and the stabilization of [[East Asia]]" and referenced the setbacks and defeats of recent years, saying "the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage". He mentioned the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] that had occurred days earlier, calling the [[Nuclear weapon|atomic bomb]] a "new and most cruel bomb". The Emperor ended with a call on the Japanese people "to be devoted to construction for the future".
[[File:Japanese civilians listening to the surrender broadcast.jpg|thumb|Japanese civilians listening to the surrender broadcast]]
The broadcast was translated into English and broadcast internationally by radio presenter [[Tadaichi Hirakawa]] at the same time.<ref>{{cite book |title=Media, Propaganda and Politics in 20th-Century Japan |date=February 26, 2015 |publisher=The Asahi Shimbun Company |isbn=9781472512260 |pages=284 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sCdmBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA284 |access-date=June 4, 2020}}</ref> In the U.S., the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) recorded the broadcast, and its entire text appeared in ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>{{Citation|title = Text of Hirohito's Radio Rescript |newspaper = [[The New York Times]] |pages = 3  |date = August 15, 1945 |url = http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1945/08/15/88279592.html?pageNumber=3 |access-date = August 8, 2015}}</ref>