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Tuesday Trivia - Recording Edition
Aug. 14th, 2018 10:26 amHere's a preview of this week's edition of Tuesday Trivia for the Darien Rotary Club's newsletter.
On this date in 1945 (August 15 in Japan, August 14 in the US) the people of Japan heard their Emperor's voice for the first time. In what was called the Jewel Voice Broadcast, a recording of the Emperor speaking was played on Japanese radio. It was delivered in Classical Japanese, a language few people spoke, and announced that the Emperor had "instructed his government to accept the Potsdam Declaration." This meant that Japan would surrender unconditionally.
Many elements of the Japanese military considered surrender dishonorable. Several attempts were made by the military to either destroy the recording or prevent its broadcast. The physical record had to be hidden among other documents in the palace and smuggled out to the radio studio in a laundry basket of women's underwear.
The speech claimed that the war arose out of "our sincere desire to ensure Japan's self-preservation and the stabilization of East Asia." In what had to be the understatement of the year, it also noted that "the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage".
Source: wikipedia.
On this date in 1945 (August 15 in Japan, August 14 in the US) the people of Japan heard their Emperor's voice for the first time. In what was called the Jewel Voice Broadcast, a recording of the Emperor speaking was played on Japanese radio. It was delivered in Classical Japanese, a language few people spoke, and announced that the Emperor had "instructed his government to accept the Potsdam Declaration." This meant that Japan would surrender unconditionally.
Many elements of the Japanese military considered surrender dishonorable. Several attempts were made by the military to either destroy the recording or prevent its broadcast. The physical record had to be hidden among other documents in the palace and smuggled out to the radio studio in a laundry basket of women's underwear.
The speech claimed that the war arose out of "our sincere desire to ensure Japan's self-preservation and the stabilization of East Asia." In what had to be the understatement of the year, it also noted that "the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage".
Source: wikipedia.
