On what date was Japan’s surrender announcement broadcast in Japan during V-J Day?

Japan’s surrender announcement was broadcast in Japan on 15 August 1945, the date commonly associated there with V-J Day.

Emperor Hirohito’s recorded address aired at noon Japan Standard Time. It announced that Japan had accepted the Potsdam Declaration, although the formal surrender document would not be signed until later.

Because of time zones, the announcement was heard on 14 August in the United States and some other parts of the Americas. This explains why both 14 and 15 August appear in accounts of V-J Day.

The legal end of the war came on 2 September 1945, when Japanese representatives signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Thus, the announcement date and the formal signing date are related but distinct.