Just hours before the radio broadcast of Emperor Hirohito’s announcement to the Japanese people that their government had accepted the military’s unconditional surrender in World War II, a coup d’etat was being hatched with one of the aims being to steal the master records and stop the airing at all costs.
The attempted coup, known as the Kyujo Incident, happened after midnight on Aug. 14, 1945 after Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, recorded the Imperial Rescript of Surrender inside the Imperial Palace to announce Japan’s capitulation to the Allied forces.
Unable to view this article?
This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software.
Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.
If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see out this support page.
We humbly apologize for the inconvenience.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.