Japan marked the 70th anniversary of its World War II surrender Saturday with 6,517 people in attendance at the national commemoration ceremony observing a moment of silence at noon in the Nippon Budokan hall in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
Exactly 70 years ago at the same time on the same day, the recorded voice of Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, was broadcast over the radio nationwide to announce that Japan had surrendered to the U.S.-led Allied powers.
World War II left an estimated 3.1 million Japanese dead as well as millions of victims in other parts of Asia invaded by Japan.