Japan’s surrender announcement reached the public on August 15, 1945, marking the main V-J Day observance.
Emperor Hirohito’s recorded announcement was broadcast in Japan shortly after noon Japan Standard Time. It told listeners that Japan had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, although the formal surrender document had not yet been signed.
The date can be confusing because the United States and other Allied countries also used September 2, the date of the formal ceremony, as V-J Day. In the United States, President Harry Truman announced Japan’s surrender to the American public on August 14 because of the time difference.
The August announcement ended major organized fighting in the Pacific, but isolated Japanese forces continued resisting in some locations. The surrender ceremony aboard USS Missouri took place more than two weeks later, on September 2, 1945.