Japan announced its surrender on 15 August 1945, the date commonly associated with V-J Day in Japan and the United Kingdom.
Emperor Hirohito’s recorded radio message told the Japanese public that the government had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. The broadcast took place at noon Japan Standard Time and was heard across the country.
The date can cause confusion because time zones made the announcement occur on 14 August in the United States and several other places. A second date also matters: Japan formally signed the surrender document on 2 September 1945 aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
In Japan, 15 August is often called the Memorial Day for the End of the War. The government’s official name for the observance is the National Memorial Service for the War Dead and Praying for Peace, adopted in 1982.