In Japan, Aug. 15 is widely known as "Shusen no Hi," meaning "The Day of the End of the War."
But technically speaking, it might more appropriately be referred to as "The Day of Defeat for Japan." Under international law, the formal end of the Pacific War was on Sept. 2, 1945, when Japan’s foreign minister and the army chief of staff signed the surrender document on the deck of the USS Missouri battleship in Tokyo Bay, alongside representatives of the Allied powers.
Aug. 15 is referred to as the day the war ended because it is when Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender over the radio. However, a week prior, on Aug. 9, the Soviet Union unilaterally abrogated the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact and suddenly declared war on Japan. Even after Japan accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration on Aug. 10, Soviet forces continued combat operations, advancing southward through the Kuril Islands and, between Aug. 28 and Sept. 5, invading and occupying the Northern Territories.
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