Emperor Hirohito broadcast Japan’s acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration on August 15, 1945.
The recorded announcement was transmitted at noon in Japan and told the Japanese people that the government had accepted the Allied terms. Hirohito used formal classical Japanese and did not plainly say the word “surrender,” so many listeners found the speech difficult to understand.
The broadcast came after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet declaration of war, and intense debate within Japan’s leadership. It announced the political decision to end the war, but fighting and local surrender arrangements continued in some places afterward.
August 15 is commonly called V-J Day, although September 2 is also used for the formal surrender ceremony. The distinction matters: August 15 marked the public announcement, while September 2 marked the signing of the surrender document aboard USS Missouri.