Historical events

二沙湾砲台における清仏戦争（基隆戦役）

On 5 August 1884, three French warships including the ironclad La Galissonnière bombarded the Keelung forts, destroying Ershawan Battery. French forces occupied the battery during the subsequent Keelung Campaign (October 1884 – April 1885), renaming it Fort La Galissonnière.

由良要塞 友ヶ島砲台群建設

From 1890 to approximately 1906, the Meiji government constructed five modern artillery batteries and supporting facilities on Tomogashima as part of the Yura Fortress system to defend the Kitan Strait and the western entrance to Osaka Bay against foreign naval threats.

日本軍の淡水占領と滬尾砲台接収

On June 9, 1895, Rear Admiral Togo Heihachiro shelled Hobe Fort during the Japanese invasion of Taiwan, but the garrison had already fled. The Japanese Army took control of the fort, removed all four cannons, and converted the site into an artillery training ground.

乙未戦争における二沙湾砲台の日本軍砲撃・占領

On 3 June 1895, five Japanese warships bombarded Ershawan Battery during the Battle of Keelung as part of Japan's invasion of Taiwan following the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The Imperial Guards Division captured the fort with little resistance.

基隆要塞 社寮島砲台築城（日露戦争準備）

In 1901–1903, the Imperial Japanese Army rebuilt the Sheliao Island batteries as part of the Keelung Fortress permanent defense plan, in preparation for the anticipated Russo-Japanese War. The new batteries featured 27 cm cannons and concealed mountain-embracing designs.

佐世保海軍工廠の設置

In November 1903, the ship repair and construction facilities at Sasebo were officially reorganized and designated as the Sasebo Naval Arsenal (佐世保海軍工廠), one of four principal naval shipyards of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The arsenal had originated as a repair facility in 1889 and expanded into shipbuilding by 1897.

噍吧哖事件（西来庵事件）——日本統治下台湾最大の武装蜂起

The Tapani Incident of 1915 was the largest and deadliest armed uprising against Japanese colonial rule during the entire fifty-year occupation of Taiwan (1895–1945). Led by Yu Qingfang, Luo Jun, and Jiang Ding, the revolt combined folk religion and millenarian prophecy with armed resistance. After initial attacks on police stations in July 1915, the insurgents were decisively defeated by Japanese military forces at Tapani (modern Yujing) on August 6. The subsequent crackdown resulted in 1,957 arrests, 866 death sentences, and an estimated 1,412 deaths. The incident marked the end of armed anti-Japanese resistance by Han Taiwanese.

第二特務艦隊の地中海派遣（1917-1918年）

From April 1917 to November 1918, the Imperial Japanese Navy's Second Special Squadron — centered on Sasebo Naval District warships — conducted escort and anti-submarine operations in the Mediterranean from Malta. The squadron completed 358 sorties, escorted 788 vessels, rescued 4,063 personnel, and operated at 72% capacity (highest among all Allied Mediterranean fleets), earning the title "Guardian Deity of the Mediterranean."

片島魚雷発射試験場の開設

In 1918, the Imperial Japanese Navy established the Katashima Torpedo Testing Facility on a peninsula in Omura Bay, Kawatana Town, to replace the congested testing range at Maebata in Sasebo Bay. The facility was built to conduct performance tests and final inspections on torpedoes manufactured at the Sasebo Naval Arsenal.

旧佐世保鎮守府凱旋記念館の竣工

In May 1923, the Sasebo Naval District Victory Memorial Hall was completed, funded by donations from 12 prefectures (Kyushu, Shikoku, and Okinawa) under the naval district's jurisdiction. The reinforced concrete two-story building, with a building area of 826 square meters, was erected to commemorate the achievements of the Second Special Squadron in the Mediterranean during World War I.

柳条湖事件（満洲事変の発端）

On the night of 18 September 1931 officers of Japan's Kwantung Army blew up a section of South Manchuria Railway track at Liutiaohu near Mukden and blamed Chinese troops, using the incident as the pretext to occupy Manchuria.

二・二六事件における首相官邸襲撃

On February 26, 1936, rebel Imperial Japanese Army soldiers attacked the Prime Minister's Official Residence as part of a broader coup attempt. They sought to assassinate PM Okada Keisuke but mistakenly killed his brother-in-law Colonel Matsuo Denzō instead. Okada survived by hiding inside the residence for two days.

二・二六事件

An attempted coup d'état on February 26, 1936, in which approximately 1,400 Imperial Japanese Army troops led by young ultranationalist officers attacked senior government officials and occupied central Tokyo for three days before surrendering on Imperial order.

台北郵便局の戦時通信統制体制への移行

With the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 and the Pacific War in 1941, the Taipei Post Office became the central node of wartime communications control in Taiwan, managing mail censorship, military postal routing, and telegraph prioritization for the war effort.

戦艦大和の建造

The world's largest battleship was secretly built at Kure Naval Arsenal from 1937 to 1941.

金瓜石鉱山の戦時増産体制

During WWII, the Japanese Imperial government designated the Jinguashi Mine as a critical strategic resource. Gold production was essential for purchasing war materiel from neutral countries, while copper was vital for munitions and shipbuilding. Production was maximised through forced labour, including over 1,100 Allied POWs from the adjacent Kinkaseki POW Camp, conscripted Taiwanese workers, and Korean labourers.

国家総動員法成立

The National Mobilization Law was enacted by the Imperial Diet on March 24, 1938, granting the government sweeping wartime control over industry, labor, media, and the economy.

端島における朝鮮人・中国人強制労働

During WWII, Mitsubishi conscripted Korean civilians and Chinese POWs to work in the undersea coal mines of Hashima Island under brutal conditions. Hundreds perished from accidents, exhaustion, malnutrition, and abuse.

三池炭鉱における朝鮮人・中国人・連合軍捕虜の強制労働

During WWII, Mitsui conscripted thousands of Korean civilians and 2,481 Chinese laborers to work in the Miike Coal Mine; 635 Chinese died (25.6% mortality). The mine also housed Fukuoka POW Camp #17, the largest Allied POW camp in the Japanese Empire, holding approximately 1,735 American, Australian, British, and Dutch prisoners forced into slave labor.

対米英宣戦と帝国議会

On December 8, 1941, the Imperial Diet formally approved the Imperial Rescript declaring war on the United States and the British Empire.

猿島高射砲設置

In 1941, anti-aircraft guns were installed on Sarushima as part of the defense of Tokyo Bay and Yokosuka Naval Base against anticipated Allied air raids.

真珠湾攻撃の準備と機動部隊の出撃

In autumn 1941 the Japanese Navy's carrier air groups trained intensively in Kyushu before the six-carrier Kido Butai assembled at Hitokappu Bay, Etorofu, and sailed for Hawaii on 26 November 1941.

弾丸列車計画の着工と中止

In 1941, the Japanese Ministry of Railways began construction on three major tunnels for the planned Tokyo–Shimonoseki high-speed railway (弾丸列車). Work was halted in 1943 due to the deteriorating war situation, but the partially completed infrastructure was later reused for the Tokaido Shinkansen (1964).

東條内閣の戦時閣議（首相官邸）

From October 1941 to July 1944, Prime Minister Tojo Hideki presided over wartime cabinet meetings at the Prime Minister's Official Residence, making critical decisions including the launch of the Pacific War.

長生炭鉱水没事故

On February 3, 1942, the ceiling of an undersea coal mine tunnel collapsed off the coast of Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, flooding the mine and killing 183 workers — 136 Korean forced laborers and 47 Japanese miners.

翼賛選挙（1942年総選挙）

The only general election held during the Pacific War took place on April 30, 1942. Taisei Yokusankai-endorsed candidates won 381 of 466 seats under intense government pressure.

ドーリットル空襲

On 18 April 1942, sixteen US Army B-25 bombers launched from the carrier USS Hornet carried out the first air raid on the Japanese home islands, striking Tokyo, Yokohama, Yokosuka, Nagoya and Kobe.

無窮洞の掘削（宮村国民学校児童による防空壕建設）

From August 29, 1943 to August 15, 1945, teachers and students of Miyamura National School in Sasebo hand-dug a massive air-raid shelter into a tufa hillside. The shelter, named Mukyudo ("Eternal Cave"), was designed to protect approximately 600 students and double as an underground classroom.

新竹空襲

On 25 November 1943, B-25 bombers and fighters of the US Fourteenth Air Force and the Chinese-American Composite Wing, flying from Suichuan in Jiangxi, made a surprise low-level attack on the Japanese naval airfield at Hsinchu. It was the first Allied air raid on Taiwan.

出陣学徒壮行会

On 21 October 1943 the Ministry of Education held a rain-soaked send-off rally at the Meiji Jingu Gaien Stadium in Tokyo for university and college students whose draft deferments had been ended.

軍需省設置（商工省改組）

On November 1, 1943, the Ministry of Munitions was established by Imperial Ordinance, reorganizing the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and absorbing the Planning Board's mobilization functions. PM Tōjō Hideki assumed the concurrent post of Minister of Munitions, concentrating wartime production authority.

ニ号研究（日本の原爆開発）

Japan's primary wartime effort to develop an atomic bomb, led by Yoshio Nishina at RIKEN.

基隆港への連合軍空襲（1944-1945年）

During the final stages of the Pacific War, Allied forces — primarily US Navy carrier-based aircraft — conducted repeated air raids against Keelung, targeting its port facilities, shipping, and military installations as part of the broader campaign to neutralize Japanese logistics in Taiwan.

岡山航空廠空襲（台湾・高雄州岡山）

In mid-October 1944, during the Formosa Air Battle, B-29s flying from Chengdu bombed the Japanese naval aircraft depot and airfield at Okayama (today's Gangshan, Kaohsiung). The 14 October mission, with 103 aircraft bombing, was the Twentieth Air Force's first 100-plane B-29 strike.

浜松空襲・艦砲射撃

From late 1944 to August 1945 Hamamatsu was attacked 27 times by bombing, strafing and naval gunfire, including the great incendiary raid of 18 June 1945 and the Allied battleship bombardment of 29 July 1945. More than 3,000 residents were killed.

昭和東南海地震

A magnitude 7.9 earthquake off the Kii Peninsula on 7 December 1944 killed more than 1,200 people and badly damaged aircraft factories in Aichi; reporting of the damage was tightly restricted under wartime censorship.

八幡空襲（1944年6月）

On the night of 15–16 June 1944, B-29s flying from bases around Chengdu, China attacked the Imperial Iron and Steel Works at Yawata — the first B-29 raid on the Japanese home islands.

マリアナ基地からのB-29本土初空襲

B-29s from the Mariana Islands began sustained bombing of Japan in late 1944.

風船爆弾作戦（ふ号作戦）

Between November 1944 and April 1945 the Japanese Army launched about 9,300 hydrogen balloons carrying bombs from three sites on the Pacific coast, using the jet stream to reach North America.

名古屋大空襲

From December 1944 to July 1945 Nagoya, the centre of Japan's aircraft industry, was bombed dozens of times; about 7,900 people were killed and Nagoya Castle's keep was burned on 14 May 1945.

対馬丸事件

On the night of 22 August 1944 the evacuation ship Tsushima Maru, carrying schoolchildren and other evacuees from Okinawa to Kyushu, was torpedoed and sunk by the US submarine Bowfin near Akusekijima; 1,484 victims have been identified by name.

橋仔頭製糖所の戦時エタノール生産と連合軍爆撃

During WWII, Taiwan's sugar factories — including the pioneer Ciaotou plant — were repurposed to produce ethanol as a petroleum substitute for the Japanese military. This strategic role made them targets for U.S. bombing raids in 1944–1945. The Ciaotou Sugar Factory sustained damage from air raids, though its core structures survived.

釜石艦砲射撃

On 14 July and 9 August 1945 Allied battleships and cruisers shelled the steelworks city of Kamaishi, Iwate; the first attack was the first naval bombardment of the Japanese home islands. More than 700 people were killed and the city centre was burned out.

川崎大空襲

On 15 April 1945 more than 200 B-29s dropped about 1,110 tons of incendiary and high-explosive bombs on Kawasaki, devastating the city centre and the factory belt along the Nambu Line. It was the largest of the air raids on the Keihin industrial city.

神戸大空襲

A series of US air raids on Kobe in 1945, above all the incendiary attacks of 17 March and 5 June and the precision raid of 11 May, which destroyed most of the port city. Official figures for the present city area are 7,491 dead, 17,002 injured and 530,858 people affected.

甲府空襲（たなばた空襲）

On the night of 6-7 July 1945, 131 B-29s firebombed Kofu, the capital of Yamanashi Prefecture, burning about three-quarters of the city. A 1974 city survey put the death toll at 1,127.

呉軍港空襲

Carrier aircraft of the US Third Fleet attacked the Kure naval base and the warships sheltering in the Inland Sea on 24-28 July 1945, sinking or grounding most of the Imperial Japanese Navy's remaining large ships. An earlier carrier strike had hit Kure on 19 March 1945.

水戸空襲

In the early hours of 2 August 1945, about 160 B-29s firebombed Mito, the capital of Ibaraki Prefecture, for an hour and three-quarters. The city was burned out, more than 300 people were killed, and the Mito Toshogu shrine and the castle's three-storey turret were lost.

室蘭艦砲射撃

On 15 July 1945 the US battleships Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin fired 860 16-inch shells at the steel works of Muroran, Hokkaido. Many shells fell on housing areas; Japanese sources give 485 dead, most of them civilians.

長岡空襲

From 22:30 on 1 August 1945, 125 B-29s firebombed Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, for about one hour and forty minutes, burning roughly 80% of the central city. The confirmed death toll stands at 1,488.

大分空襲

Oita City was raided 22 times between 18 March 1945 and the end of the war, with 177 people killed and 270 injured. The heaviest attack, a B-29 incendiary raid on the night of 16-17 July 1945, burned out the city centre and killed 49.

岡山空襲

Before dawn on 29 June 1945 about 138 B-29s from Tinian dropped roughly 890 tons of incendiaries on Okayama without any air-raid warning having been given. More than 1,700 people were killed and Okayama Castle's keep was destroyed.

沼津大空襲

Before dawn on 17 July 1945 B-29s dropped more than 9,000 incendiary bombs on Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, burning 89.5% of the urban area. The raid killed 274 people and injured 505.

堺大空襲

In the early hours of 10 July 1945 about 100-116 B-29s firebombed the old city of Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, for an hour and a half. City records give 1,860 dead, 18,446 houses burned and 70,000 people made homeless.

青函連絡船空襲

On 14-15 July 1945 carrier aircraft of US Task Force 38 attacked the Seikan railway ferries in the Tsugaru Strait and in Aomori and Hakodate harbours, putting all twelve ferries out of action. Between 352 and about 425 crew and passengers were killed or missing, depending on the source.

仙台空襲

In the early hours of 10 July 1945, 123 B-29s of the USAAF 58th Bombardment Wing firebombed central Sendai, burning 11,933 houses and killing more than 1,000 people.

台南大空襲

On 1 March 1945, B-24 bombers of the US Fifth Air Force carried out a large-scale indiscriminate bombing of the administrative centre of Tainan, destroying 1,073 buildings.

台北大空襲

On 31 May 1945, about 117 B-24 bombers of the US Fifth Air Force bombed central Taipei for three hours, hitting the Governor-General's Office and many civilian districts in the largest Allied air raid on Taiwan.

徳島大空襲

In the early hours of 4 July 1945, 129 B-29s of the USAAF 314th Bombardment Wing dropped about 1,050 tons of incendiaries on Tokushima, burning roughly 62 percent of the city and killing about 1,000 people.

和歌山大空襲

On the night of 9-10 July 1945, B-29s dropped about 800 tons of incendiaries on Wakayama, burning more than half of the dense urban area, destroying Wakayama Castle and killing more than 1,100 people.

富山大空襲

In the early hours of 2 August 1945, 174 B-29s dropped about 1,465 tons of incendiaries on Toyama, destroying 99.5 percent of the target area and killing more than 2,000 people.

ソ連対日参戦・満洲侵攻

The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on 8 August 1945 and invaded Manchuria, northern Korea, southern Sakhalin and the Kuriles from 9 August, destroying the Kwantung Army and ending Manchukuo.

日本の降伏調印式

Japan formally surrendered aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.

長崎への原子爆弾投下

The second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

米軍による台中飛行場爆撃

On January 3, 1945, Air Group 80 from USS Ticonderoga and aircraft from multiple U.S. carriers attacked Taichung Airfield with dive bombers, torpedo bombers, and fighters, destroying hangars and cratering the runway as part of the pre-Luzon campaign to suppress Japanese air power on Taiwan.

沖縄戦

The largest ground battle fought on Japanese soil in the Pacific War, from the US landing in the Kerama Islands on 26 March 1945 to the end of organised Japanese resistance on 23 June. Okinawa Prefecture's estimate puts total deaths at about 200,000, roughly half of them civilians.

桜花初出撃（神雷部隊第一次攻撃）

On March 21, 1945, 16 G4M2e Betty bombers carrying Ohka weapons launched from Kanoya Air Base against the US Fifth Fleet off Kyushu. All 16 were intercepted and shot down before reaching release range, killing approximately 160 crew members — the bloodiest single-day loss for the Jinrai Butai.

大和田通信隊によるポツダム宣言傍受

The Owada Communications Unit intercepted the Allied broadcast of the Potsdam Declaration (July 26, 1945), making it one of the first Japanese military facilities to receive the ultimatum demanding unconditional surrender.

土崎空襲

The last major aerial bombardment of Japan in WWII. On the night of August 14-15, 1945, 132 B-29s of the 315th Bombardment Wing destroyed the Nippon Oil Akita Refinery, killing over 250 people — hours before Japan's surrender.

佐世保大空襲

On the night of June 28–29, 1945, 145 B-29 bombers of the 73rd Bombardment Wing dropped over 1,077 tons of incendiary bombs on Sasebo, destroying nearly half the city center, leaving 60,000 homeless, and killing at least 1,231 people. Approximately 600 students sheltered safely inside the Mukyudo Cave.

宇都宮空襲

On the night of 12-13 July 1945, B-29s of the USAAF 58th Bombardment Wing dropped 802.9 tons of incendiaries on central Utsunomiya, killing more than 620 people and burning 9,490 houses.

川棚海軍工廠の閉鎖と原爆被災者収容

Following Japan's surrender in August 1945, the Kawatana Naval Arsenal and Katashima Torpedo Testing Facility were decommissioned. After the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, the arsenal facilities were converted to accommodate and treat bomb survivors evacuated by rail from Nagasaki.

宮城事件

An attempted military coup d'état on the night of August 14–15, 1945, in which young army officers led by Major Kenji Hatanaka occupied the Imperial Palace grounds, murdered the Imperial Guards Division commander, and searched for the Emperor's surrender recording in a desperate bid to prevent Japan's capitulation. The coup was suppressed by dawn, and the Jewel Voice Broadcast proceeded as planned.

鈴木内閣の終戦決議（首相官邸）

In August 1945, Prime Minister Suzuki Kantarō led the final cabinet deliberations at the PM Residence that culminated in Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration and unconditional surrender, ending World War II.

外務省庁舎焼失（5月25日空襲）

The Foreign Ministry building in Kasumigaseki was completely gutted in the devastating air raids of May 25, 1945, with approximately 20,000 diplomatic documents lost. Only a single four-story archive building survived.

特別高等警察の廃止

On October 4, 1945, GHQ issued SCAPIN-93 "Removal of Restrictions on Political, Civil, and Religious Liberties," ordering the immediate abolition of the Special Higher Police (特高警察) and the release of all political prisoners.

鹿島海軍航空隊 第二魁隊 特攻出撃

On May 11, 1945, five aviators from the Kashima Naval Air Group departed Ibusuki Air Base in two seaplanes — a Type 0 Reconnaissance Seaplane (Aichi E13A) and a Type 94 Reconnaissance Seaplane (Kawanishi E7K) — on a one-way special attack mission against Allied warships off Okinawa. None returned.

玉音放送

At noon on 15 August 1945, a recording of Emperor Hirohito reading the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War was broadcast by radio, announcing Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration to the public.

高雄港驛への米軍空襲

In January 1945, the U.S. Army Air Forces launched massive air raids against Kaohsiung targeting its port, rail, and industrial infrastructure. Kaohsiung Port Station, the critical rail-to-sea logistics hub, was nearly completely destroyed.

終戦の詔書起草（1945年8月10日〜14日）

Chief Cabinet Secretary Sakomizu Hisatsune and his team drafted the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War at the Prime Minister's Official Residence between August 10 and 14, 1945, producing at least nine drafts before final Cabinet approval.

東京大空襲（1945年3月10日）

The deadliest single air raid in history killed approximately 100,000 people in Tokyo.

東條英機逮捕・自殺未遂事件

On September 11, 1945, American military police arrived at former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo's private residence in Yoga, Setagaya to arrest him as a suspected Class-A war criminal. Tojo shot himself in the chest with a pistol but missed his heart. American photographers captured the dramatic scene, producing photographs that were published worldwide. Tojo survived after receiving blood transfusions from American doctors.

横須賀海軍工廠廃止

On 15 October 1945, following Japan's surrender, the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal was officially abolished and its facilities were seized by Allied occupation forces. The site later became U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka.

外務省における降伏文書準備

After the Imperial decision to accept the Potsdam Declaration on August 14, 1945, the Foreign Ministry prepared the Instrument of Surrender documentation and coordinated with the Allies through neutral diplomatic channels.

軍需省廃止・商工省復帰

On August 26, 1945, eleven days after Japan's surrender, Vice-Minister Shiina Etsusaburō led the preemptive dissolution of the Ministry of Munitions and its reversion to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, forestalling a potentially harsher dismantling by GHQ/SCAP.

台北大空襲における台北郵便局の被害と存続

On May 31, 1945, 117 U.S. B-24 bombers devastated central Taipei. While the Governor-General's Office suffered 83% damage, the Taipei Post Office's reinforced concrete construction allowed it to survive with limited damage.

花岡事件

On 30 June 1945, Chinese labourers brought to the Hanaoka mine in Akita Prefecture to work for the Kajima-gumi construction company rose up and escaped; they were recaptured and more than a hundred died in the suppression that followed.

浮島丸事件

On 24 August 1945 the naval transport Ukishima Maru, carrying Korean labourers and their families home from Aomori Prefecture, exploded and sank in Maizuru Bay; the Japanese government's figures give 549 dead, a toll disputed by survivors and Korean groups.

大阪大空襲

A series of eight major B-29 raids on Osaka between 13 March and 14 August 1945 that destroyed much of the city and killed more than 10,000 people.

豊川海軍工廠空襲

On 7 August 1945 about 124 B-29s bombed the Toyokawa Naval Arsenal in Aichi Prefecture for some 26 minutes, killing more than 2,500 workers, many of them mobilised students and teenage girls.

戦艦大和の沖縄特攻（坊ノ岬沖海戦）

On 7 April 1945 the battleship Yamato, sent on a one-way surface sortie to Okinawa with a light cruiser and eight destroyers, was sunk by US carrier aircraft south-west of Kyushu with the loss of several thousand men.

引揚げ（戦後の海外からの引揚）

Between 1945 and 1958 more than six million Japanese soldiers and civilians were repatriated from the former empire and occupied territories through designated ports such as Hakata, Sasebo (Uragashira), Maizuru and Senzaki.

広島への原子爆弾投下

The first atomic bomb used in warfare was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

明石空襲

A series of B-29 raids on Akashi, Hyogo, between 19 January and 28 July 1945, first against the Kawasaki Aircraft Akashi plant and then, on 7 July, against the city centre. In total 1,496 people were killed and about 61% of the urban area was burned.

青森大空襲

On the night of 28 July 1945, 62 B-29s dropped about 83,000 M74 incendiary bombs on Aomori, burning roughly 90% of the urban area. The city's memorial records 1,018 deaths, although other counts exist.

千葉空襲

Two B-29 raids on Chiba City in 1945: a daylight attack on the Hitachi Aircraft plant on 10 June and the night incendiary raid of 7 July, known as the Tanabata Raid. Together they burned about 70% of the city centre and caused 1,595 casualties.

福井空襲

On the night of 19 July 1945, 127 B-29s firebombed Fukui City for 81 minutes, destroying 84.8% of the built-up area by US assessment. More than 1,500 people were killed and over 85,000 were made homeless.

福山大空襲

On the night of 8 August 1945, two days after the Hiroshima bombing, 91 B-29s dropped about 556 tons of incendiaries on Fukuyama, burning roughly 80% of the urban area and the castle keep. 355 people were killed.

八王子空襲

In the early hours of 2 August 1945, B-29s dropped about 1,600 tons of incendiaries on Hachioji in western Tokyo over roughly two hours, burning about 80% of the urban area. Around 400 to 450 people were killed.

終戦の詔書閣議決定（1945年8月14日）

On August 14, 1945, the Suzuki Cabinet held a lengthy meeting at the Prime Minister's Official Residence to finalize the wording of the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War, approving it at approximately 11:00 PM.

姫路空襲

Two B-29 raids on Himeji in 1945: a daylight attack on the Kawanishi Aircraft plant on 22 June and a night incendiary raid on the city centre on 3-4 July. About 510 people were killed in total, while Himeji Castle survived almost untouched.

日立空襲・艦砲射撃

In June and July 1945 the industrial city of Hitachi suffered three large Allied attacks: a B-29 one-ton-bomb raid on 10 June, a battleship bombardment on the night of 17 July, and an incendiary raid on 19 July. More than 1,500 people were killed.

佐賀空襲

On the night of 5-6 August 1945 about 60-65 B-29s bombed the southern part of Saga City and neighbouring villages with incendiaries and high-explosive bombs. The raid killed 61 people and burned 443 houses, the largest air raid in Saga Prefecture.

静岡大空襲

On the night of 19-20 June 1945, 137 B-29s of the USAAF 314th Bombardment Wing dropped about 13,211 incendiary bombs on Shizuoka, killing some 1,952 people and destroying most of the city centre.

高松空襲

Before dawn on 4 July 1945, 116 B-29s of the USAAF 58th Bombardment Wing firebombed Takamatsu, burning about 80 percent of the built-up area and killing 1,359 people.

横浜大空襲

On the morning of 29 May 1945 about 500 B-29s escorted by P-51s dropped incendiaries on Yokohama for roughly an hour, destroying most of the city centre; the official death toll is about 3,650, though higher estimates exist.

松山大空襲

On the night of 26-27 July 1945, 128 B-29s of the 73rd Bombardment Wing dropped about 896 tons of incendiaries on Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture. The raid killed 251 people, left 8 missing and burned out 14,300 households.

名古屋空襲（1945年5月14日・名古屋城焼失）

On 14 May 1945 up to 472 B-29s dropped 2,515 tons of incendiaries on northern Nagoya in a daylight raid. Nagoya Castle, then a designated National Treasure, burned down; 338 people were killed.

大和田通信隊による原爆搭載機の識別

Owada signals analysts identified B-29 aircraft with unique call signs as atomic bomb carriers before the Hiroshima and Nagasaki strikes, though warnings could not prevent the attacks.

外務省におけるポツダム宣言受諾検討

The Foreign Ministry received, translated, and deliberated the Potsdam Declaration (July 26, 1945), with Foreign Minister Tōgō advocating acceptance. The ministry played a central role in the critical deliberations that led to Japan's ultimate acceptance on August 14, 1945.

極東国際軍事裁判（東京裁判）

The Allied tribunal that tried 28 Japanese leaders as Class A war crimes suspects at Ichigaya, Tokyo, from 3 May 1946 to 12 November 1948; seven were sentenced to death and executed at Sugamo Prison.

横浜BC級戦犯裁判

Between February 1946 and October 1949, the U.S. Eighth Army conducted 319 trials of 996 Japanese BC-class war criminals at the Yokohama District Court, resulting in 854 convictions, 124 death sentences, and 51 executions.

内務省解体

On December 31, 1947, the Ministry of Home Affairs was formally dissolved by order of GHQ/SCAP as part of the democratization of postwar Japan.

海上自衛隊佐世保史料館（セイルタワー）開館

On March 10, 1997, the JMSDF Sasebo Museum opened at its current location in the restored Sasebo Suikosha building, incorporating the 1898 officers' club structure into a new seven-story museum facility nicknamed "Sail Tower" for its distinctive sail-shaped rooftop.