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Victory over Japan Day

Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day[1]) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on which the initial announcement of Japan's surrender was made – 15 August 1945, in Japan, and because of time zone differences, 14 August 1945 (when it was announced in the United States and the rest of the Americas and Eastern Pacific Islands) – as well as to 2 September 1945, when the surrender document was signed, officially ending World War II.

This article is about the event and commemoration day. For the holiday Victory over Japan Day in the US, see Victory Day (United States). For the photograph, see V-J Day in Times Square.

Victory over Japan Day

V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, V-P Day

15 August 1945 and 2 September 1945

Annually

15 August is the official V-J Day for the United Kingdom, while the official US commemoration is 2 September.[2] The name, V-J Day, had been selected by the Allies after they named V-E Day for the victory in Europe.


On 2 September 1945, formal surrender occurred aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. In Japan, 15 August usually is known as the "memorial day for the end of the war" (終戦記念日, Shūsen-kinenbi); the official name for the day, however, is "the day for mourning of war dead and praying for peace" (戦没者を追悼し平和を祈念する日, Senbotsusha o tsuitōshi heiwa o kinensuru hi). This official name was adopted in 1982 by an ordinance issued by the Japanese government.[3]

Surrender[edit]

Events before V-J Day[edit]

On August 6 and 9, 1945, the Allies dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. On August 9, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. The Japanese government on August 10 communicated its intention to surrender under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration.


The news of the Japanese offer began early celebrations around the world. Allied soldiers in London danced in a conga line on Regent Street. Americans and Frenchmen in Paris paraded on the Champs-Élysées singing "Don't Fence Me In". American soldiers in occupied Berlin shouted "It's over in the Pacific", and hoped that they would now not be transferred there to fight the Japanese. Germans stated that the Japanese were wise enough to—unlike themselves—give up in a hopeless situation, and were grateful that the atomic bomb was not ready in time to be used against them. Moscow newspapers briefly reported on the atomic bombings with no commentary of any kind. While "Russians and foreigners alike could hardly talk about anything else", the Soviet government refused to make any statements on the bombs' implication for politics or science.[4]


In Chongqing, Chinese fired firecrackers and "almost buried [Americans] in gratitude". In Manila, residents sang "God Bless America". On Okinawa, six men were killed and dozens were wounded as American soldiers "took every weapon within reach and started firing into the sky" to celebrate; ships sounded general quarters and fired anti-aircraft guns as their crews believed that a kamikaze attack was occurring. On Tinian island, B-29 crews preparing for their next mission over Japan were told that it was cancelled, but that they could not celebrate because it might be rescheduled.[4]

Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration[edit]

A little after noon Japan Standard Time on August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito's announcement of Japan's acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration was broadcast to the Japanese people over the radio. Earlier the same day, the Japanese government had broadcast an announcement over Radio Tokyo that "acceptance of the Potsdam Proclamation [would be] coming soon", and had advised the Allies of the surrender by sending a cable to U.S. President Harry S Truman via the Swiss diplomatic mission in Washington, D.C.[5] A nationwide broadcast by Truman was aired at seven o'clock p.m. (daylight time in Washington, D.C.) on Tuesday, August 14, announcing the communication and that the formal event was scheduled for September 2. In his announcement of Japan's surrender on August 14, Truman said that "the proclamation of V-J Day must wait upon the formal signing of the surrender terms by Japan".[6]


Since the European Axis Powers had surrendered three months earlier (V-E Day), V-J Day was the effective end of World War II, although a peace treaty between Japan and most of the Allies was not signed until 1952, and between Japan and the Soviet Union until 1956. In Australia, the name V-P Day (Victory in the Pacific) was used from the outset. The Canberra Times of August 14, 1945, refers to V-P Day celebrations, and a public holiday for V-P Day was gazetted by the government in that year according to the Australian War Memorial.[7][1]

Public celebrations[edit]

After news of the Japanese acceptance and before Truman's announcement, civilians began celebrating "as if joy had been rationed and saved up for the three years, eight months and seven days since Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941" (the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor), Life magazine reported.[8] In Washington, D.C. a crowd attempted to break into the White House grounds as they shouted "We want Harry!"[9]


In San Francisco two nude women jumped into a pond at the Civic Center to soldiers' cheers.[8] More seriously, thousands of drunken people, the vast majority of them Navy enlistees who had not served in the war theatre, embarked in what the San Francisco Chronicle summarized in 2015 as "a three-night orgy of vandalism, looting, assault, robbery, rape and murder" and "the deadliest riots in the city's history", with more than 1,000 people injured, 13 killed, and at least six women raped. None of these acts resulted in serious criminal charges, and no civilian or military official was sanctioned, leading the Chronicle to conclude that "the city simply tried to pretend the riots never happened".[10]


The largest crowd in the history of New York City's Times Square gathered to celebrate.[8] The victory itself was announced by a headline on the "zipper" news ticker at One Times Square, which read "OFFICIAL *** TRUMAN ANNOUNCES JAPANESE SURRENDER ***"; the six asterisks represented the branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.[11] In the Garment District, workers threw out cloth scraps and ticker tape, leaving a pile five inches deep on the streets. The news of the war's end sparked a "coast-to-coast frenzy of [servicemen] kissing . . . everyone in skirts that happened along," with Life publishing photographs of such kisses in Washington, Kansas City, Los Angeles, and Miami.[8]

April 1 – June 21, 1945: . 82,000+ US military casualties, and 117,000+ Japanese and Okinawan. Approximately one-fourth of the Okinawan civilian population died, often in mass suicides organized by the Imperial Japanese Army.

Battle of Okinawa

July 26: The is issued. Truman tells Japan, "Surrender or suffer prompt and utter destruction."[19]

Potsdam Declaration

July 29: Japan rejects the Potsdam Declaration.

August 2: The ends.

Potsdam Conference

August 6: The US drops an , Little Boy, on Hiroshima. In a press release 16 hours later, Truman warns Japan to surrender or "expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth."[20]

atomic bomb

August 9: The USSR declares war on Japan, and invades . The US drops another atomic bomb, Fat Man, on Nagasaki.

several Japanese-held territories

August 10: At the direction of the Emperor, the Japanese Foreign Ministry notifies the Allies (via Swiss diplomatic channels) of Japan's intention to surrender unconditionally in accordance with the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, providing the Emperor be permitted to remain in place.

August 11: The Allies notify the Japanese government (again via Swiss diplomats) of their willingness to accept Japan's surrender as offered.

August 14: Allied governments announce the surrender of Japan, and the Emperor informs his people of the fact in an unprecedented radio broadcast. The date is described as "V-J Day" or "V-P Day" in newspapers in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

September 2: Official surrender ceremony is held aboard in Tokyo Bay; President Truman declares September 2 as the official "V-J Day".

USS Missouri

November 1: Scheduled commencement of , the planned Allied invasion of Kyushu.

Operation Olympic

March 1, 1946: Scheduled commencement of , the planned Allied invasion of Honshu.

Operation Coronet

September 8, 1951: 48 countries including Japan and most of the Allies sign the

Treaty of San Francisco

April 28, 1952: The Treaty of San Francisco goes into effect, formally ending the state of war between Japan and most of the Allied countries.

Post war:

World Peace Day[edit]

It was suggested in the 1960s to declare September 2, the anniversary of the end of World War II, as an international holiday to be called World Peace Day. However, when this holiday came to be first celebrated beginning in 1981, it was designated as September 21, the day the General Assembly of the United Nations begins its deliberations each year.

Japanese holdouts

Mokusatsu

Kyūjō incident

in Taiwan (ROC)

Retrocession Day

Stunde Null

first American newsman to announce the Japanese surrender

Robert Trout

Archived 18 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine

Original Document: Surrender of Japan

The U.S. Army in Post-WWII Japan

Archived May 22, 2017, at the Wayback Machine at the US Army Center of Military History

V-J Day portal

VJ Day in New Zealand

RAW: Russia's Kamchatka commemorates 70th anniversary of victory in WWII

UK - 50th Anniversary Of VJ Day Festivities

Australia -

Victory in the Pacific rituals