On what date did Emperor Hirohito announce Japan’s surrender in the V-J Day broadcast?

Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender on 15 August 1945, in the broadcast remembered as V-J Day.

The announcement was transmitted in Japan at noon through the national broadcaster NHK. Hirohito read an Imperial Rescript accepting the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, which demanded Japan’s surrender. Although the speech did not use ordinary language to say simply “Japan surrenders,” listeners understood that the war was ending.

The date can cause confusion because time zones meant the announcement was heard in the United States on 14 August. The formal surrender ceremony happened later, on 2 September 1945, aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Consequently, different countries and sources use different dates for V-J Day.

The recording was made during a tense political crisis. Some Japanese military officers attempted a coup to prevent the broadcast from being aired, but the recording survived and was transmitted. It was the first time many Japanese civilians had heard their emperor’s voice.