@MrEjidorie
Emperor Hirohito spoke in ancient Japanese in the broadcast, and many subjects could not understand well. But they could guest the defeat of Imperial Japan. The broadcast by the Emperor was unprecedented because he was believed to be God by the Japanese people. My mother was 11 years old and she was astonished to hear his human voice over the radio.
@communistjesus
Some Japanese generals tried to kidnap Emperor Hirohito to keep the war going... Their coup failed....
@Saltan1908
the Emperor did speak in literary old Japanese: therefore the majority of his subjects did not understand him.
@kyle87436
I like how you can hear him managing emotions through this. The content was good and fair.
@captainphilippines8461
When an Introvert is forced to speak
@reaality3860
Emperor Hirohito told Japan to surrender without ever using the word "Surrender".
@clintgolub1751
From Wikipedia: "According to historian Richard Storry in A History of Modern Japan, the Emperor typically used "a form of language familiar only to the well-educated" and to the more traditional samurai families. The speech, using formal, archaic Japanese, was not readily understood by many commoners." Makes me want to learn Japanese!
@Vysair
His dialect and the way he speaks sounds different.
@Shregurun93
the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage
@bobnigel5233
Why the hell is the emperor frying some sausages while making a speech
@Neonagi
He made the right choice. I’ve spoken with some now old Japanese ladies, and they were preparing every single citizen to fight to the death in the event of a land invasion occurring, even women and children were told to take up arms or sharp bamboo poles and sticks and fight until dead or kill themselves if they were unable to fight any longer. Propaganda was so strong that the women and children thought literal demons were coming to rape and torture them endlessly. Almost all of Japan may have been obliterated and unrecognizable today if it wasn’t for the side that made the choice to surrender. Thank God for that.
@cambridgeport90
Hirohito was known for his squeaky voice, as heard here, but according to author Herbert P. Bix, most of his awkwardness in social situations (this one no exception), was due to his remarkably formal upbringing. The poor guy was never allowed to do things that normal children do... like play, socialize, and make friends. As a result, he hardly ever spoke... at all.
@baraxor
Technically. the word "surrender" would be a purely military matter, rather than something to do with the nation as a whole. By simply stating that Japan has accepted the proposal, which would have included the surrender of all armed forces in the field and turning over the government to a foreign occupation, meant that the nation has indeed surrendered without bluntly saying so.
@Axesmed
0:46 he sounds like the plane that crashes
@ccc_ceark
I'm Japanese, but I can't understand the meaning of more than half of this sentence. This sentence uses the grammar as written in classical literature textbooks, and uses only esoteric words.
@kadafi4lyf
So much for "surrender is not an option". Thousands of civilians committed suicide instead of surrendering. Some in the military unsuccessfully attempted to kidnap Hirohito to keep the war going. Captured POWs would detonate suicide bomb/grenade attacks. Pilots would load their planes with bombs and fly suicide missions, flying directly into US war ships. Despite this, Hirohito surrendered because he knew how deadly the nuclear bomb was. He was scared, as he said - the continuity of the human race was at stake. So why is it after the war, so many nations rushed to develop as many nukes as they possibly can? Mutually assured destruction is the end of mankind. The world has enough nuclear weapons to destroy itself three times over and we should be terrified. Imagine if the gunfire that killed millions was instead replaced with these bombs in, god forbid, WW3...
@jurisprudens
There is an honour in fighting, there is an honour in accepting defeat.
@erikrupp692
This speech to the nation of Japan almost didn't make it to the air. There was an attempt by some military officers to prevent the surrender. After a long night of scheming and fighting the conspirators were stopped and the address made it to the air. There's a great movie from Toho about it - Japan's Longest Day. It's got an all star cast and does a great job of showing just how precarious the decision to surrender was. Hirohito did the right thing (whether or not he was involved much in the war and any war crimes committed by it's military is subject to debate, but he did the right thing here). Hirohito was resolute that Japan had to survive, and to survive they had to surrender. But, yeah, check out Japan's Longest Day. It's a fairly accurate depiction of what happened.
@erkhetamarsaikhan8549
The saddest anime ending
@P99AT