Shaimaa Khalil
Tokyo correspondent

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

It’s been a sweltering day here in Tokyo.

Not far from the imperial palace - at the Nippon Budokan Arena, Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako led a minute’s silence during the national memorial ceremony to mark 80 years since Japan’s surrender and the end of World War Two.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba mentioned the word "remorse" in his speech - the first time in more than 10 years (since 2012) the word has been used in a leader’s war memorial address.

But given that a member of his cabinet - agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi - visited the infamous Yasukuni Shrine, these words will feel hollow to Japan’s neighbours.

I was at the shrine with hundreds of people making their way in the heat to offer prayers and respect for Japan’s war dead. But it also honours class A war criminals like the wartime leader Hideki Tojo who was executed in 1948.

For critics, especially in Korea and China, it’s a sign of the country’s failure to repent in full for the atrocities committed by its imperial army during World War Two. The shrine is seen as a symbol of glorification for Japan’s violent past - one that the country has failed to fully own up to officially or legally.

Image source, Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum

Japan's surrender to the allied forces came days after the United States carried out the world's first nuclear bomb strikes, to this day the only time devastating atomic weapons have been used in war.

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber Enola Gay dropped the first bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. When Tokyo failed to surrender, a second bomb struck the city of Nagasaki on 9 August.

In Hiroshima, the blast was equivalent to 15,000 tonnes of TNT. The massive explosion enveloped the city of 420,000, killing an estimated 140,000 people.

The bomb dropped on Nagasaki was even bigger and killed an estimated 74,000 people. The strike destroyed about 30% of the city, flattening almost everything in the industrial district.

Bomb survivor Hiroshi Nishioka, 93, who was just 3km (1.8 miles) from the spot where it exploded, told a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing last week of the horror he had witnessed.

"Even the lucky ones [who were not severely injured] gradually began to bleed from their gums and lose their hair, and one after another they died," he said.

Survivors of the bombs, known as hibakusha in Japan, suffered from the effects of radiation poisoning, psychological trauma, and from cancers like leukaemia.

Kavita Puri
BBC

Captain Yavar Abbas is 104. Today he lives just outside London. He was born in British India and, like two-and-a-half million Indians, fought alongside the Allies.

He was a combat cameraman in the Fourteenth Army and was at the frontlines of nearly all the major battles of the Burma Campaign, including Imphal and Kohima.

Writing at night in his diary on 28 February 1945, when he was approaching Mandalay, he said “We are moving out in the first light of day. There's every chance of my not coming back at all, but I've decided to take the risk…three times I've just been a couple of feet from death.”

But it’s what he saw in the aftermath of Hiroshima - where he was part of the Allied Occupying Force - that still haunts him today.

He says even at the time he felt “it was a crime against humanity to have dropped the bombs”.

Hear more of Yavar’s story in The Second Map: The History Podcast here.

Image source, Getty Images

At 07:00 BST, military bagpipers started performing the lament Battle’s O’er at The Cenotaph in central London, in the Far East Prisoner's of War section of the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, and at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.

The dawn lament coincided with a remembrance moment at a Japanese peace garden in west London to reflect the reconciliation which has taken place between the UK and Japan in the decades since the Second World War.

They were joined by military pipers performing simultaneously in key locations around the world to recognise the contribution of communities across the Indo-Pacific to World War Two.

This included pipers on board HMS Prince of Wales, which is currently at sea in east Asia, as well as performances from UK Armed Forces pipers in Japan, Nepal, Brunei and New Zealand.

King Charles III has honoured all those who fought and died in the Pacific and Far East for their "service and sacrifice" to help bring an end to World War Two.

In an audio message recorded to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, he vowed they "shall never be forgotten".

The King started by reflecting on the moment in 1945 when the Japan surrendered to Allied forces.

"For the millions of families gathered around their wireless sets, and for their loved ones still serving far from home, it was the message a battle-weary world had long prayed for," he said.

He also acknowledged the "immense price" paid by the citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki following the atomic bombings of the two Japanese cities in 1945 that killed more than 200,000 people. "But in recalling so much suffering, we must not lose sight of how great was the cause and how sweet the victory."

The King added that countries and communities had come together as part of the war effort, learning to coordinate across distances, faiths and cultural divides.

"Together they proved that, in times of war and in times of peace, the greatest weapons of all are not the arms you bear, but the arms you link. That remains a vital lesson for our times."

You can read more of the King's message in our story - and listen to his message below:

Image source, Getty Images

Victory over Japan Day - or VJ Day - marks the end of World War Two in the Pacific and was first observed on 15 August 1945.

This was the moment that the Allies - Britain, the US and other countries that were fighting together - declared victory over Japan in the war.

After days of rumours about the capitulation of the Japanese forces, US President Harry Truman announced that Tokyo had accepted the terms of surrender at 19:00 ET on 14 August.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Britain's new Prime Minister Clement Attlee confirmed the news, saying: "The last of our enemies is laid low."

The following day, Japan's Emperor Hirohito spoke on the radio for the first time ever to announce the surrender. The war formally concluded on 2 September.

That meant 15 August 1945 was officially named as Victory over Japan day and World War Two was finally over.

About 71,000 soldiers from Britain and the Commonwealth died in the war against Japan, including more than 12,000 prisoners of war who died in Japanese captivity.

Thomas Mackintosh
Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Today marks 80 years since the Japanese surrendered and World War Two officially ended.

It's known as Victory over Japan Day - or VJ Day for short - and is marked every year on 15 August.

Tributes to VJ veterans from across the UK and the Commonwealth began this morning, when military bagpipers performed at Edinburgh Castle, the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire and the Cenotaph in London.

Later in the day there will be flypasts by the Red Arrows and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, as military personnel honour veterans alongside the King, Queen and other senior politicians.

To commemorate this significant milestone the BBC will be offering a wealth of coverage, including the special VJ 80: The Nation's Tribute programme broadcasting live from Staffordshire from 11:30 BST on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and will be streamed here in this page.