Eighty years after the end of World War II, Japan and China are commemorating the conflict’s conclusion in sharply contrasting ways—on different dates, with divergent messages, and against a backdrop of renewed political strain.

Japan’s annual ceremony takes place on August 15, the day in 1945 when Emperor Hirohito announced the country’s surrender in a historic radio broadcast. The solemn event in Tokyo, broadcast by NHK, features remarks from Emperor Naruhito and the prime minister. At last year’s ceremony, Naruhito expressed “deep remorse” for Japan’s wartime actions. Yet tensions often flare, as visits by Japanese cabinet ministers to the Yasukuni Shrine—a site China and South Korea view as a symbol of imperial militarism—regularly coincide with the day.

China, by contrast, observes its commemoration on September 3, known as Victory Day, marking the day after Japan’s formal surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The date is celebrated with large-scale military displays; this year’s parade will include tanks, missiles, fighter jet flyovers, and the attendance of Russian President Vladimir Putin, underscoring Beijing’s deepening ties with Moscow.

These differing approaches reflect deep historical scars from Japan’s occupation of China, which left an estimated 20 million dead, particularly in the northeast region then known as Manchuria. In Benxi, a museum honors Chinese resistance fighters who endured harsh winters in hidden bases before returning with Soviet forces in August 1945—the same day the U.S. dropped its second atomic bomb on Nagasaki.

While Japan portrays itself today as a pacifist nation, its recent military expansion in response to regional threats, especially from China, has reignited sensitivities. Beijing frequently invokes Japan’s wartime past to counter criticism of its own military build-up.
“Japan must reflect on its historical culpability,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said, accusing Tokyo of hiding its true ambitions under the banner of regional security.

Since 2014, China has amplified Victory Day’s profile, aligning it with nationalist sentiment and ongoing disputes with Japan over East China Sea territories. President Xi Jinping and top Communist Party leaders have used the occasion to reinforce China’s narrative of wartime history.

Despite the passage of decades, the commemorations remain a political flashpoint, revealing how the two largest powers in Asia continue to wrestle with both the unresolved legacies of the past and their competing visions for the future.