Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) on 15th August, is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II , in effect bringing the war to an end 75 years ago.
The term has been applied to both of the days on which the initial announcement of Japan’s surrender was made – August 15, 1945, in Japan, and because of time zone differences, August 14, 1945 (when it was announced in the USA and the rest of the Americas and Eastern Pacific Islands) – as well as to September 2, 1945, when the surrender document was signed, officially ending World War II.
August 15 is the official V-J Day for the U.K., while the official US commemoration is 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 September 2, 1945, a formal surrender ceremony was performed in Tokyo Bay, Japan, aboard the battleship USS Missouri. In Japan, August 15 is known as the ‘memorial day for the end of the war’ or “the day for mourning of war dead and praying for peace”.
