Japan announced its World War II surrender to the Allies on August 15, 1945, in Emperor Hirohito’s radio broadcast.
The broadcast, known as the Gyokuon-hōsō, carried Hirohito’s voice to the Japanese public for the first time. He announced that Japan had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and urged the people to endure the unendurable. Because the recording was made earlier and transmitted at noon Japan Standard Time, many listeners heard it through poor-quality radios and found the formal language difficult to understand.
The announcement followed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet declaration of war on Japan, and intense debate within Japan’s leadership. Japan’s government had communicated its acceptance of Allied terms on August 14, while the public broadcast occurred on August 15.
This date is often called Victory over Japan Day in countries that received the news on August 15. The formal surrender document was signed later, on September 2, aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, so the announcement date and signing date are not the same.