Japan marks 67th anniversary of WWII surrender, as frictions with neighbors

[itaskol]

Japan marks 67th anniversary of WWII surrender, as frictions with neighbors mount - The Washington Post

TOKYO — Japan marked the 67th anniversary of its World War II surrender with a somber ceremony in the capital Wednesday, while renewed tension over territorial disputes and animosity over its wartime actions heated up in neighboring countries.

Renewing Japan’s pledge to maintain its war-renouncing policy, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda mourned for the war dead and apologized to victims of Japanese wartime atrocities.

We have caused tremendous damage and pain to many countries, particularly the Asian people, during the war. We deeply regret that and sincerely mourn for those who were sacrificed and their relatives,” Noda said. “We will not repeat the same mistake.”

Emperor Akihito, whose father made the unprecedented 1945 national radio address announcing the war could not be won, also offered prayers for the dead.

Simmering tensions between Japan and its neighbors have threatened to boil over in recent weeks.

Tokyo was angered by a recent visit by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to contested islands in the Sea of Japan, called Takeshima in Japanese and Dokdo in Korean. The visit was seen by many as an attempt by Lee to play up anti-Japan sentiment ahead of elections later this year.

A group of South Korean protesters were swimming across the sea to land on the island later Wednesday, while a shipload of activists from Hong Kong was heading to another set of disputed islands in the East China Sea claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan.

The Hong Kong boat was approaching the territorial waters around the islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, as Japanese Coast Guard patrol vessels warned against entry. The Prime Minister’s Office also set up a taskforce in case of emergency.

In a ceremony celebrating Japan’s defeat, Lee on Wednesday condemned Japan for forcing thousands of Korean women into sexual slavery to Japanese soldiers during the war. The day before, Lee said that Japan’s emperor should apologize to Koreans who died while fighting for their liberation from Japan.

Noda called Lee’s remark “puzzling and regrettable.”

While Japan routinely apologizes for its wartime actions, its politicians often anger countries that bore the brunt of its colonial aggression by visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, a Japanese memorial honoring the war dead including top war criminals.

Two Japanese ministers from Noda’s Cabinet — Jin Matsubara, head of the National Public Safety Commission and Yuichiro Hata, the transport minister — and dozens of national lawmakers visited the war shrine on Wednesday.

Matsubara said he visited Yasukuni in his private capacity.

“I was only truthful to my own principle as a Japanese citizen,” he said.

___

Associated Press writer Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

15th.08 is important to all chinese people.
in my heart today should be the independend day of china....

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2012-08/15/c_131787189.htm

 

[gpit]

Some pictures:

Ships with flags of China (mainland, Taiwan, HongKong and Macau).

Diayu Islands in sight.

patriots waving flags of ROChina and PRChina landing on Diayu islands (Senkaku).



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Aug 14, 1945:
Japan's surrender made public (in Asia time, it is Aug 15, 1945 - by gpit)


On this day in 1945, an official announcement of Japan's unconditional surrender to the Allies is made public to the Japanese people.

...

Japan's surrender made public — History.com This Day in History — 8/14/1945








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Japanese Instrument of Surrender

We, acting by command of and on behalf of the Emperor of Japan, the Japanese Government and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, hereby accept the provisions in the declaration issued by the heads of the Governments of the United States, China, and Great Britain 26 July 1945 at Potsdam, and subsequently adhered to by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which four powers are hereafter referred to as the Allied Powers.

We hereby proclaim the unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters and of all Japanese Armed Forces and all Armed Forces under Japanese control wherever situated.

We hereby command all Japanese forces wherever situated and the Japanese people to cease hostilities forthwith, to preserve and save from damage all ships, aircraft, and military and civil property, and to comply with all requirements which may be imposed by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers or by agencies of the Japanese Government at his direction.

We hereby command the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters to issue at once orders to the commanders of all Japanese forces and all forces under Japanese control wherever situated to surrender unconditionally themselves and all forces under their control.

We hereby command all civil, military, and naval officials to obey and enforce all proclamations, orders, and directives deemed by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers to be proper to effectuate this surrender and issued by him or under his authority; and we direct all such officials to remain at their posts and to continue to perform their non-combatant duties unless specifically relieved by him or under his authority.

We hereby undertake for the Emperor, the Japanese Government, and their successors to carry out the provisions of the Potsdam Declaration in good faith, and to issue whatever orders and take whatever action may be required by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers or by any other designated representative of the Allied Powers for the purpose of giving effect to that declaration.

We hereby command the Japanese Imperial Government and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters at once to liberate all Allied Prisoners of War and civilian internees now under Japanese control and to provide for their protection, care, maintenance, and immediate transportation to places as directed.

The authority of the Emperor and the Japanese Government to rule the State shall be subject to the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, who will take such steps as he deems proper to effectuate these terms of surrender.

Signed at TOKYO BAY, JAPAN at 09.04 on the SECOND day of SEPTEMBER, 1945

Mamoru Shigemitsu
By Command and in behalf of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese Government

Yoshijirō Umezu
By Command and in behalf of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters

Accepted at TOKYO BAY, JAPAN at 09.08 on the SECOND day of SEPTEMBER, 1945, for the United States, Republic of China, United Kingdom and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and in the interests of the other United Nations at war with Japan.

Douglas MacArthur
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers

C.W. Nimitz
United States Representative

Hsu Yung-Ch'ang
Republic of China Representative

Bruce Fraser
United Kingdom Representative

Kuzma Derevyanko
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Representative

Thomas Blamey
Commonwealth of Australia Representative

Lawrence Moore Cosgrave
Dominion of Canada Representative

Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque
Provisional Government of the French Republic Representative

C.E.L. Helfrich
Kingdom of the Netherlands Representative

Leonard M. Isitt
Dominion of New Zealand Representative

Japanese Instrument of Surrender - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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For many ill-educated yet gleeful Indians and Vietnamese,

Behold! to whom the Japanese surrendered!

For your easy reading, I boldfaced the relevant text.

 

[Luffy 500]

Watched many documentaries regarding Japan's rise and fall and rise again. The pacific century is a very good documentary on the subject. Any way japan went overboard in ww2 even though they had a decent empire from korea to russian Sakhalin island including taiwan. Their military elite even'knew that they can not sustain a long war with resourceful US but they rather planned for 1-1.5 year war to push US to a settlement. The US were the ones that craved for war by putting an oil embargo and then they allowed the pearl harbour attack to take place so that they can go to war. Typical of the terrorist yankis.

But the japanese were no saints either as they were down right racist like the nazis and committed heinous atrocities on the chinese and koreans like the nanking massacre. They ultimately paid the price for their stupidity.

Shame on America.

Agreed. The yanki fagots were the instigator in most cases. Specially the Nuclear bombing of
hiroshima and Nagashaki was just a show of american power to the world nothing else. They wanted to test it on human subjects and thus they were no less savages than those meji japanese military war criminals. The bombing of those 2 cities could have been averted. Japan was ready to surrender and barely had anything to feed her population.

 

[gambit]

Here we go again with the crocodile tears for Japan.