Emperor Hirohito's recorded announcement of Japan's surrender aired on August 15, 1945.
The broadcast, formally known as the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War, was transmitted at noon Japan Standard Time. It told the Japanese people that the government had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, although Hirohito did not use the ordinary Japanese word for surrender directly.
The announcement followed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union's entry into the war against Japan, and intense debate within Japan's leadership. Because the speech used formal Classical Japanese and the recording had poor sound quality, many listeners found it difficult to understand.
August 15 is often called V-J Day in Japan and several other countries. It is different from September 2, 1945, when Japanese representatives formally signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.