On what date did Japan’s surrender announcement mark V-J Day in Japan in 1945?

Japan’s surrender announcement marked V-J Day in Japan on August 15, 1945.

At noon Japan Standard Time, Emperor Hirohito’s recorded radio address told the Japanese public that the government had accepted the Potsdam Declaration. The broadcast followed the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union’s entry into the war against Japan.

The date can be confusing because different countries received the news at different local times. In the United States, President Harry Truman announced Japan’s surrender on August 14, while August 15 was already underway in Japan. The formal surrender ceremony came later, on September 2, 1945, when Japanese representatives signed the surrender instrument.

Japan commonly remembers August 15 as the day the war ended, although the government’s official observance has a longer peace-and-remembrance title. In the United States, September 2 has also been associated with V-J Day because it marked the formal signing.