What is the common Japanese name for the August 15 memorial marking Japan’s 1945 defeat?

The common Japanese name for the August 15 memorial marking Japan’s 1945 defeat is Shūsen-kinenbi.

Shūsen-kinenbi can be translated as “Memorial Day for the End of the War.” It refers to the annual observance in Japan connected with Emperor Hirohito’s radio announcement on August 15, 1945. The broadcast informed the Japanese public that the government had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration.

The date is not identical to the formal surrender ceremony. Japan’s representatives signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2. In Japan, however, August 15 remains the date most closely associated with the announcement that fighting would end.

The Japanese government’s official name for the observance is longer: “Day for Mourning the War Dead and Praying for Peace.” That official designation was adopted in 1982. Shūsen-kinenbi is therefore a common label rather than the full formal title of the national observance.