NHK Museum of Broadcasting

The NHK Museum of Broadcasting (NHK放送博物館) is located atop Atago Hill (愛宕山, elevation 25.7 m) in Minato Ward, Tokyo — the highest natural point within Tokyo's 23 special wards. This geographic advantage made it an ideal site for early radio transmission, and it became the birthplace of Japanese broadcasting.

On March 22, 1925, the Tokyo Broadcasting Station (東京放送局, call sign JOAK) conducted Japan's first radio broadcast from a temporary studio in nearby Shibaura. On July 12, 1925, a permanent broadcasting station was completed atop Atago Hill, and regular radio programming began from this location. The station later became part of the Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK, Japan Broadcasting Corporation), established in 1926.

During the wartime period, NHK served as the sole nationwide broadcasting network under government control. The Imperial Japanese government used radio as a critical tool for wartime propaganda, civil defense alerts, and official communications. The Atago Hill facility and NHK's broadcasting infrastructure were central to wartime information dissemination.

The museum's most historically significant artifact is the Gyokuon-ban (玉音盤) — the original phonograph recording disc of Emperor Hirohito's surrender broadcast. On August 15, 1945, at noon, the Emperor's voice was heard by the Japanese public for the first time in history via this recorded address, known as the Gyokuon-hōsō (玉音放送, Jewel Voice Broadcast). In it, he announced Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration, effectively ending World War II. The recording had been made the previous evening amid the Kyūjō Incident (宮城事件), in which rebel army officers attempted a coup to prevent the surrender and searched the Imperial Palace for the recordings. The discs were smuggled out and delivered to NHK for broadcast.

The museum also preserves the original manuscript of the "Hei ni Tsugu" (兵に告ぐ, "To the Soldiers") broadcast — the radio appeal made during the February 26 Incident (二・二六事件) of 1936, in which rebel troops were urged to stand down via radio from the Atago Hill station.

The NHK Museum of Broadcasting opened on March 3, 1956, as the world's first museum dedicated exclusively to the history of broadcasting. The present four-story building dates from 1968; the museum underwent a major renovation and reopened with modernized exhibits in 2016, marking the 90th anniversary of broadcasting. Across four floors, visitors can explore the evolution of Japanese broadcasting from early crystal radio sets to modern high-definition and satellite broadcasting, with original equipment, archival footage, and interactive exhibits. Admission is free.