Which 1945 declaration did Japan accept when Hirohito announced surrender to the Japanese public?

Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration when Hirohito announced the surrender to the Japanese public in August 1945. Issued on 26 July by the United States, the United Kingdom, and China, the declaration demanded Japan's unconditional surrender and outlined broad conditions for the postwar settlement.

The declaration warned Japan of “prompt and utter destruction” if it refused. The Soviet Union was not an original signatory because it was still neutral toward Japan when the declaration was issued, but it later joined the war against Japan on 8 August. Japan's final decision followed the atomic bombings, the Soviet declaration of war, and intense debate among its military and political leadership.

The Potsdam Declaration is distinct from the Cairo Declaration of 1943, which expressed Allied goals concerning territories taken by Japan. It is also different from the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, the document signed aboard USS Missouri on 2 September. The declaration set terms; the later instrument recorded Japan's formal capitulation.