Japan announced its acceptance of the Allied surrender terms on August 15, 1945, the date associated with V-J Day in Japan.
Emperor Hirohito's recorded announcement was broadcast at noon Japan Standard Time. It stated that Japan had accepted the Potsdam Declaration, although the formal surrender documents were not signed until later. The announcement followed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's entry into the war against Japan.
August 15 can cause confusion because different countries and time zones used different dates. In the United States, President Harry S. Truman announced Japan's surrender on August 14 local time, while the formal ceremony took place on September 2 aboard USS Missouri. Thus, August 15 marks the public announcement in Japan, not the signing ceremony that legally completed the surrender.