Taipei Broadcasting Bureau (Taihoku Hōsōkyoku)

The Taipei Broadcasting Bureau (台北放送局, Taihoku Hōsōkyoku) was opened by the Communications Department of the Governor-General of Taiwan, which began experimental broadcasts under the call sign JFAK in 1928, as the island's primary radio broadcasting facility. The station's performance hall (演奏所) — the building that survives today — was designed by Kuriyama Shunichi (栗山俊一) of the Governor-General's Civil Engineering Section; construction began on February 1, 1930, and it was completed on November 8, 1930, within the grounds of Taihoku New Park (now 228 Peace Memorial Park). The two-story reinforced concrete structure features a Renaissance Revival exterior with an Oriental-style entrance pavilion, ground-floor arcades, and spacious second-floor balconies that evoke a tropical colonial aesthetic.

In 1931, the Taiwan Broadcasting Association (臺灣放送協會) was established and assumed operational control from the government. Under the call sign JFAK, the Taipei station served as the hub for a growing network of relay stations across the island (including Tainan JFBK, Taichung JFCK, and others), broadcasting news, music, educational programming, and — increasingly during the war years — government propaganda and air-raid alerts.

On August 15, 1945, at noon, the Taipei Broadcasting Bureau relayed the Emperor's Gyokuon-hōsō (玉音放送) — Hirohito's recorded radio address announcing Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration and unconditional surrender. For the 6 million residents of Taiwan, this broadcast from the Taipei station and its relay network of outdoor loudspeakers (放送亭) marked the sudden and dramatic end of 50 years of Japanese colonial rule. The moment was one of profound shock, confusion, and for many Taiwanese, cautious hope for a new era.

After Japan's surrender, the Republic of China took control of the station and renamed it the Taiwan Broadcasting Station (臺灣廣播電臺). On February 28, 1947, following the killing of a civilian by Tobacco Monopoly Bureau agents, angry crowds gathered across Taipei. A group of protesters forced their way into the broadcasting station and seized the microphone, broadcasting calls for a general strike and resistance across the entire island. This act of seizing the airwaves was a pivotal moment in the February 28 Incident (二二八事件), transforming a local confrontation into an island-wide uprising that was subsequently suppressed with devastating violence by Kuomintang forces.

In 1996 the Taipei City Government chose the building as the site of the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum (台北二二八紀念館), which opened on February 28, 1997 — the 50th anniversary of the incident; the building itself was designated a Taipei City historic monument (市定古蹟) on May 14, 2020. Today the museum documents both the 228 Incident and the subsequent White Terror period, preserving the memory of this broadcasting station's dual role as the voice of colonial authority and, briefly, the voice of popular resistance.