Hirohito in the context of "Japanese surrender"

The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, ending the war. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. Together with the United Kingdom and China, the United States called for the unconditional surrender of Japan in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945—the alternative being "prompt and utter destruction". While publicly stating their intent to fight on to the bitter end, Japan's leaders (the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War, also known as the "Big Six") were privately making entreaties to the publicly neutral Soviet Union to mediate peace on terms more favorable to the Japanese. While maintaining a sufficient level of diplomatic engagement with the Japanese to give them the impression they might be willing to mediate, the Soviets were covertly preparing to attack Japanese forces in Manchuria and Korea (in addition to South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands) in fulfillment of promises they had secretly made to the US and the UK at the Tehran and Yalta Conferences.

On 6 August 1945, at 8:15 am local time, the United States detonated an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Sixteen hours later, American president Harry S. Truman called again for Japan's surrender, warning them to "expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth." Late on 8 August 1945, in accordance with the Yalta agreements, but in violation of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and soon after midnight on 9 August 1945, the Soviet Union invaded the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. Hours later, the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor took place on December 7, 1941. The United States military suffered 19 ships damaged or sunk, and 2,403 people were killed. Its most significant consequence was the entrance of the United States into World War II. The US had previously been officially neutral and considered an isolationist country with its Neutrality Act but subsequently after the attack declared war on Japan the next day and entered the Pacific War. Then on December 11, 1941, four days after the Japanese attack, after the Italian declaration of war on the United States and the German declaration of war against the United States, which Hitler had orchestrated, the US was then at war with Germany and Italy. The US then became involved in the Battle of the Atlantic and the European theatre of war as well as with Japan.

Following the attack, the US interned 120,000 Japanese Americans, 11,000 German Americans, and 3,000 Italian Americans.

Saburō Kurusu (来栖 三郎, Kurusu Saburō; March 6, 1886 – April 7, 1954) was a Japanese diplomat. He is remembered now (in the United States) as an envoy who tried to negotiate peace and understanding with the United States while the Japanese government under Emperor Hirohito was secretly preparing the attack on Pearl Harbor.

As Imperial Japan's ambassador to Germany from 1939 to November 1941, he signed the Tripartite Pact along with the foreign ministers of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy on September 27, 1940.

The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the printed agreement that formalized the surrender of Japan, marking the end of hostilities in World War II. It was signed by representatives from Japan and from the Allied nations: the United States, China, the United Kingdom (UK), the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. The signing took place on the deck of USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945.

The date is sometimes known as Victory over Japan Day. However, that designation more frequently refers to the date of Emperor Hirohito's Gyokuon-hōsō (Imperial Rescript of Surrender), the radio broadcast announcement of the acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration at noon Japan Standard Time on 15 August.

World War II officially ended in Asia on September 2, 1945, at 3:24 with the surrender of Japan on the USS Missouri. Before that, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, and the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, causing Emperor Hirohito to announce the acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration on August 15, 1945, which would eventually lead to the surrender ceremony on September 2.

After the ceremony, Japanese forces continued to surrender across the Pacific, with the last major surrender occurring on October 25, 1945, with the surrender of Japanese forces in Taiwan to Chiang Kai-shek. The American occupation of Japan lasted from the end of the war until April 28, 1952, when the Treaty of San Francisco came into effect.

Naruhito (born 23 February 1960) is Emperor of Japan. He acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne following the abdication of his father, Akihito, on 1 May 2019, beginning the Reiwa era. He is the 126th monarch, according to the traditional order of succession.

Naruhito was born during the reign of his paternal grandfather, Emperor Hirohito. He was the first child of Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko (later Emperor and Empress). His father acceded to the throne in 1989 upon the death of Emperor Hirohito, making Naruhito the heir apparent. He was formally invested as Crown Prince of Japan in 1991. He attended Gakushūin schools in Tokyo and later studied history at Gakushuin University and English at Merton College, Oxford. In June 1993, he married the diplomat Masako Owada. They have one daughter: Aiko, Princess Toshi.

The Shōwa era (昭和時代, Shōwa jidai; [ɕoːwadʑidai] ) was a period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) from December 25, 1926, until his death on January 7, 1989. It was preceded by the Taishō era and succeeded by the Heisei era.The pre-1945 and post-war Shōwa periods are almost completely different states: the pre-1945 Shōwa era (1926–1945) concerns the Empire of Japan, and the post-1945 Shōwa era (1945–1989) concerns the modern-day Japan.

Before 1945, Japan moved into political totalitarianism, ultranationalism and statism, culminating in Japan's invasion of China in 1937, part of a global period of social upheavals and conflicts such as the Great Depression and the Pacific War.

Yoshihito (嘉仁; 31 August 1879 – 25 December 1926), posthumously honored as Emperor Taishō (大正天皇, Taishō Tennō), was the 123rd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 1912 until his death in 1926. His reign, known as the Taishō era, was characterized by a liberal and democratic shift in domestic political power, known as Taishō Democracy. Yoshihito also oversaw Japan's participation in the First World War from 1914 to 1918, the Spanish flu pandemic, and the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923.

Born to Emperor Meiji and his concubine Yanagiwara Naruko, Yoshihito was proclaimed crown prince and heir apparent in 1888, his two older siblings having died in infancy. He suffered various health problems as a child, including meningitis soon after his birth. In 1900, he married Sadako Kujō, a member of the Kujō family of the Fujiwara clan; the couple had four sons. In 1912, Yoshihito became emperor upon the death of his father, but as he suffered from neurological issues for much of his life, he played only a limited role in politics and undertook no official duties from 1919. His declining health led to appointment of his eldest son, Crown Prince Hirohito, as regent in 1921, and Hirohito succeeded him as emperor when he died in 1926.