End of Pacific War on 15-8-1945

Today is 15th August, the VJ Day. 8月15日。今日は、終戦記念日です。





Victory over Japan Day (also known as Victory in the Pacific Day, V-J Day, or V-P Day) is a name chosen for the day on which the Surrender of Japan occurred, effectively ending World War II, and subsequent anniversaries of that event. The term has been applied to both the day on which the initial announcement of Japan's surrender was made in the afternoon of August 15, 1945, in Japan, and because of time zone differences, to August 14, 1945, (when it was announced in the United States, Western Europe, the Americas, the Pacific Islands, and Australia/New Zealand), as well as to September 2, 1945, when the signing of the surrender document occurred.

August 15 is the official V-J Day for the UK 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, the day 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" (戦歿者を追悼し平和を祈念する日 Senbotsusha wo tsuitōshi heiwa wo kinennsuru hi). This official name was adopted in 1982 by an ordinance issued by the Japanese government.

August 15 is commemorated as Liberation Day in Korea.

As the final official surrender of Japan was accepted aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China, which represented China on the Missouri, announced the three-day holidays to celebrate V-J Day, starting September 3. Starting from 1946, September 3 was celebrated as "Victory of War of Resistance against Japan Day" ( 抗日戰爭勝利紀念日), which evolved into the Armed Forces Day (軍人節) in 1955. September 3 is recognized as V-J Day in the People's Republic of China. There are still "September 3" streets (九三街) and primary schools (九三小学) in almost every major city in China.

One is VJ Day or Liberation Day to remember civilian who was killed, and military man who died during the war to defend their country. The other is Memorial or Surrender day to remember civilian died during the war, and the Imperial Japanese Army who died for invading other countries. It was the day with positive and negative value for the young generations, from different perspective.

VJ Day should not be the day to remember aggression and violence in war, or to honor militarism or war criminals who killed innocent civilians..... it should be the day to remember the positive value of heroic act to defend a nation, to help the weak, and to promote the message of peace....

Yasukuni Shrine or Yasukuni Jinja(靖国神社)

Yasukuni Shrine (靖国神社 or 靖國神社 Yasukuni Jinja) is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is dedicated to the soldiers and others who died fighting on behalf of the Emperor of Japan. Currently, its Symbolic Registry of Divinities lists the names of over 2,466,000 enshrined men and women whose lives were dedicated to the service of Imperial Japan, particularly to those killed in wartime. It also houses one of the few Japanese war museums dedicated to World War II.

The site for the Yasukuni Shrine, originally named Tōkyō Shōkonsha (東京招魂社) was chosen by order of the Meiji Emperor. This shrine was to commemorate the soldiers of the Boshin War who fought and died to bring about the Meiji Restoration. It was one of several dozen war memorial shrines built throughout Japan at that time as part of the government-directed State Shinto program. In 1879, the shrine was renamed Yasukuni Jinja. It became one of State Shinto's principal shrines, as well as the primary national shrine for commemorating Japan's war dead. The name Yasukuni, quoted from the phrase 「吾以靖国也」 in the classical-era Chinese text Zuo Zhuan (Scroll 6, 23rd Year of Duke Xi), literally means "Pacifying the Nation" and was chosen by the Meiji Emperor. The name is formally written as 靖國神社, using obsolete (pre-war) kyūjitai character forms.

One of the central controversies of the shrine is the personal visits by Japanese politicians. There have been many visits including numerous politicians, and heads of state including several prime ministers. Many in the international and Asian community see this as support for or complicity with Japanese nationalism, and denial of the events of World War II. The politicians themselves see this as paying respect to the over two million war dead of Japan from several wars, done on personal time.

After World War II, the US-led Occupation Authorities issued the Shinto Directive. This directive ordered the separation of church and state and effectively put an end to State Shinto. Yasukuni Shrine was forced to become either a secular government institution or a religious institution independent from the Japanese government. People[who?] decided that the shrine would become a privately funded religious institution. Since that decision in 1946, Yasukuni Shrine has continued to be privately funded and operated.

(extract from wikipedia)

There are still people who still pay respect to Japanese militarism, the Class A criminals who started the Pacific War, causing the death of many people during the World War 2. If it was the family members that pay the respect in their family shrine, it is private affairs, no body will bother about it. But if a national leaders are paying their respect during VJ day, then it is like saying, that Japan cherish the militarism and their war criminal acts; it is a disrespect to all civilian people who died during the war, Japanese or non-Japanese. It is also the disrespect to the Japanese civilian victims of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They died as innocent people, as civilian. It was because of the two atomic bombs that killed many in Hiroshima and Nagsaki, Japan emperor surrender. The lives of many people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulted in surrender, otherwise more lives will be lost if the emperor did not surrender. May be more atomic bombs will be dropped. The people of Hiroshima and Nagsaki died for their emperor unknowingly and may be not willingly...

It is worst if the Japanese nation attempt to erase or alter the history of World War 2.....it is not respectful even to their own people who died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who died because of Japanese militarism and because of the wars...

If you feel for the victims of Atomic Bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, you will also feel for the victims of the World War 2(Pacific War) who died during the war started by Japan militarism, Japanese Imperial Army....we will feel the same pain for them, the same sorrow for them, they died unwillingly from the war started by Japan. Japan is the offender, the initiator of the war, they should feel sorry for the war, Surrender Day should be the day for repentance, the day to remember the war crimes done, and the day to call for world peace...

I really respect the German, who was bold to face the history, and even pay their respect to the Jews and victims of WW2. I remember seeing a picture of one German foreign minister who even kneel down in front of WW2 memorial, with the public watching, with regret in his heart, and tears in his eyes. This gained the respect of the people witnessed the memorial ceremony.

That is the difference between Japanese and the German....and today German can walk boldly to face their future, unlike Japanese who still carrying the burden of the WW2, trying to erase or justify the act of the war....

Japan should take the courageous step to be sensitive to the feeling of the victim countries, avoid any ceremony and activities that will provoke their emotion and sad memories. The scar of the war is difficult to erase from memory, just like the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Surrender Day or Victory Day, it does not matter; the most important is the message that many civilian lives were lost because of the war, the war started by Japanese militarism. Any peaceful citizen of the world, Japanese or non-Japanese, will not let it to happen again, ....

To many people the war had ended, but to the victims and their families, the memory of the war still linger in their life.....the scar and bad experience of the war still remain strongly in their heart, and the painful experience still torment them even until today.....

Let there be no war, the message is clear....