Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender on August 15, 1945, in a radio address to the Japanese people.
The broadcast was Hirohito’s Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War, later widely nicknamed the Jewel Voice Broadcast. It stated that Japan had accepted the Allied terms, although the recording used formal court language that many listeners found difficult to understand.
The announcement came after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet declaration of war on Japan, and intense debate within Japan’s leadership. The emperor’s intervention helped break a deadlock among senior officials who disagreed over whether to accept surrender.
August 15 is commonly called V-J Day in several countries, but the formal surrender ceremony occurred later. Japanese representatives signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. Thus, the announcement and the legal signing were separate events.