Emperor Hirohito's V-J Day surrender broadcast reached the Japanese public on 15 August 1945.
The recorded address was broadcast at noon Japan Standard Time by NHK, Japan's national broadcaster. Hirohito announced that Japan had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, although the speech used formal Classical Japanese and did not simply say, in everyday language, that Japan had surrendered.
The broadcast followed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet declaration of war against Japan. Japan's leaders had debated surrender, and Hirohito intervened when the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War was deadlocked. His decision broke the tie in favor of accepting the Allied terms.
The date is often called V-J Day, meaning Victory over Japan Day, especially in the United States. It should not be confused with 2 September 1945, when Japanese representatives formally signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.