1945 in Japan

Incumbents

• Emperor: Hirohito
• Prime Minister: Kuniaki Koiso, Kantarō Suzuki, Prince Higashikuni, Kijuro Shidehara
• Minister of War: Gen Sugiyama, Korechika Anami
• Minister of the Navy: Mitsumasa Yonai
• Supreme Commander Allied Powers: Douglas MacArthur

  Events

• February 18 - U.S. Marines land on Iwo Jima.
• March 10 - Major bombing of Tokyo
• March 12 - First bombing of Nagoya.
• March 13 - First bombing of Osaka.
• March 26 - U.S. forces win the Battle of Iwo Jima, defeating the last remaining troops led by Tadamichi Kuribayashi.
• March 31 - Fukuoka Bank is founded.
• April 7 - The Japanese battleship Yamato is sunk.
• April 7 - Suzuki forms his cabinet.
• May 1 - Hiroshima Bank is founded.
• May 24 - Second major bombing of Tokyo.
• May 29 - First bombing of Yokohama.
• July 26 - Allies issue Potsdam Declaration; Japan refuses to agree to its terms.
• August 6 - Atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
• August 8 - Soviet Union declares war on Japan.
• August 9 - Atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
• August 15 - Last Allied bombing of Japan takes place in Odawara.
• August 15 - Emperor Hirohito declares Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration.
• August 30 - Douglas MacArthur arrives in Japan.
• September 2 - Japanese officials sign instrument of surrender on the deck of the USS Missouri.
• 24 September - Hirohito says that he did not want war and blames Tojo for the attack on Pearl Harbor
• October 2 - Office of the Supreme Commander Allied Powers is established at the Dai-Ichi Seimei Building in Tokyo.
• October 5 - Higashikuni cabinet resigns.
• October 9 - Shidehara cabinet is formed.
• October 15 - Peace Preservation Law is repealed.
• December 17 - Women's suffrage is granted in Diet elections.
• December 18 - House of Representatives is dissolved: Diet elections called for April 1, 1946.

  Births

• January 6: Toshiko Hamayotsu, politician
• January 29: Yoko Shinozaki, volleyball player
• February 16: Masataka Itsumi, television announcer and singer
• February 25: Toshikatsu Matsuoka, politician
• March 7: Sadakazu Tanigaki, politician
• March 13: Sayuri Yoshinaga, actress
• March 14: Komaki Kurihara, actress
• June 9: Yūji Aoki, manga artist
• June 14: Hiroshi Miyauchi, actor
• July 6: Kyōzō Nagatsuka, actor
• July 7: Ikezawa Natsuki, author
• July 10: Katsuji Mori, voice actor and narrator
• July 19: Kenji Kimura, volleyball player
• July 25: Masakatsu Morita, Tatenokai member
• August 6: Yoshinori Sakai, Olympic flame torchbearer
• August 9: Yoshinori Kurosawa, musician
• August 20: Tomio Sumimoto, sprint canoer
• August 22: Tamori, entertainer
• September 3: Fusako Shigenobu, leader of the Japanese Red Army
• September 12: Yumiko Fujita, actress
• October 2: Shigenobu Murofushi, athlete
• October 19: Shigeo Nakata, wrestler
• October 25: Keaton Yamada, voice actor and narrator
• November 16: Haruko Okamoto, figure skater
• December 15: Kimiko Kasai, jazz singer
• December 23: Noriko Tsukase, voice actress

  Deaths

• January 9: Shigekazu Shimazaki, career officer
• February 26: Sanji Iwabuchi
• March 22: Takeichi Nishi
• March 26: Tadamichi Kuribayashi
• April 1: Gōtarō Ogawa
• May 11: Kiyoshi Ogawa, naval aviator
• March 17: Tatsugo Kawaishi, swimmer
• April 16: Toshiko Tamura, novelist
• May 16: Shintarō Hashimoto, admiral
• May 21: Prince Kan'in Kotohito, Chief of Army General Staff
• June 3: Fusashige Suzuki, athlete
• June 7: Kitaro Nishida, philosopher
• June 22: Isamu Chō, officer
• June 23: Mitsuru Ushijima, general
• August 6: Senkichi Awaya, mayor of Hiroshima
• August 15:
• *Korechika Anami, war leader
• *Matome Ugaki, admiral
• August 16: Takijirō Ōnishi, admiral
• August 17: Shimaki Kensaku, author
• August 20: Masahiko Amakasu, officer
• August 24:
• *Midori Naka, stage actress
• *Shizuichi Tanaka, general
• September 9: Yoshitsugu Tatekawa, lieutenant-general
• September 12: Hajime Sugiyama, field marshal
• September 14: Kunihiko Hashida, physician and physiologist
• September 20: Chōtoku Kyan, Okinawan karate master
• September 26: Kiyoshi Miki, philosopher
• October 15: Mokutaro Kinoshita, author, Dramaturge, poet, art historian and literary critic
• October 18: Yoshiki Hayama, writer
• October 28: Kesago Nakajima, lieutenant-general
• November 30: Shigeru Honjō, general
• December 13: Goro Shiba, military leader during the Boxer Rebellion
• December 16: Fumimaro Konoe, former prime minister