Emperor Hirohito's recorded surrender broadcast aired in Japan on August 15, 1945.
The address announced that Japan had accepted the Allied terms in the Potsdam Declaration. It was broadcast at noon Japan Standard Time and became the first time most Japanese people had heard their emperor's voice. Hirohito used formal classical Japanese, so many listeners found the speech difficult to understand.
The recording was made at the Imperial Palace on August 14, after Japan's leaders debated how to respond to the atomic bombings and the Soviet declaration of war. Staff secretly protected the records during an attempted military coup intended to prevent the broadcast.
August 15 is often called Japan's V-J Day, while the formal signing of the surrender document occurred on September 2 aboard USS Missouri. Those dates mark different stages of Japan's surrender.