On what date did Japan's 1945 surrender announcement, the Hirohito surrender broadcast, air?

Japan's 1945 surrender announcement, the Hirohito surrender broadcast, aired on August 15, 1945.

The broadcast was Emperor Hirohito's recorded reading of the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War. It told Japan's population that the government had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, although the speech used formal language and did not plainly repeat the word “surrender” in the way many listeners expected.

The recording was broadcast at noon Japan Standard Time by NHK. It followed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet declaration of war on Japan, and intense debate within Japan's leadership. The formal legal surrender came later, on September 2, when Japanese representatives signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri.

August 15 is commonly called V-J Day in Japan and several Allied countries, but different countries observed victory celebrations according to local time and political convention. That is why August 14 also appears in some American historical references.