The Treaty of San Francisco formally ended the state of war between Japan and most Allied powers on 28 April 1952.
The peace treaty was signed in San Francisco on 8 September 1951. It restored Japan’s sovereignty after the Allied occupation and settled many legal consequences of the Pacific War. The treaty came into force on 28 April 1952, nearly seven years after Japan’s formal surrender.
This date is different from the end of hostilities. The Japanese Instrument of Surrender, signed on 2 September 1945, ended active fighting and established the surrender terms. The later treaty provided the international legal framework for peace and normalized relations with participating countries.
Not every wartime relationship was resolved by the treaty. The Soviet Union did not sign it, and Japan’s state of war with the Soviet Union formally ended through the Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956. China’s representation was also disputed during the treaty process.