1945 in Japanese
千九百四十五
Updated May 2026
End of the Second World War (Showa 20)
NUMERAL
1,945
KANJI
千九百四十五
HIRAGANA
せんきゅうひゃくよんじゅうご
ROMAJI
sen-kyū-hyaku-yon-jū-go
Year context
Showa 20 (昭和20年). The year of Japan's surrender on 15 August 1945, ending the Second World War. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima (6 August) and Nagasaki (9 August) preceded the surrender. Showa-era arithmetic: Showa 1 = 1926, so Showa 20 = 1945.
Real sentence examples
昭和二十年の八月十五日に終戦を迎えました (shouwa ni-jū-nen no hachi-gatsu jū-go-nichi ni shuusen o mukaemashita): the war ended on 15 August in Showa 20.
一九四五年は日本にとって転換点でした (sen-kyū-hyaku-yon-jū-go-nen wa nihon ni totte tenkan-ten deshita): 1945 was a turning point for Japan.
Pronunciation and morphology notes
For years, Japanese uses the full Sino-Japanese reading without commas: 1945 = sen-kyū-hyaku-yon-jū-go-nen (with 年 nen suffix). In imperial-era notation, the same year is Showa 20 (昭和20年, shouwa ni-jū-nen). Both forms are seen in Japanese documents; official documents often use the imperial form.
Related numbers
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