Emperor Hirohito announced acceptance of the Allied surrender terms in a radio address on August 15, 1945.
Hirohito, posthumously known in Japan as Emperor Shōwa, recorded the speech after Japan's leadership decided to accept the Potsdam Declaration. The broadcast became known as the Gyokuon-hōsō, or “Jewel Voice Broadcast,” and marked the first time the Japanese public heard the emperor's voice.
His wording was highly formal and indirect. Rather than plainly saying that Japan had surrendered, he stated that the government had been ordered to accept the Allied terms. The broadcast therefore did not immediately clarify every legal and military detail of the surrender.
Hirohito remained emperor after the war, but the postwar constitution stripped the throne of political sovereignty and defined the emperor as a symbol of the state. Japan's formal surrender was signed later, on September 2, aboard USS Missouri.