Japan, with her own local agenda in the far east, declares war on Germany

The Japanese potter Shoji Hamada accompanies Bernard Leach on his return to England

25-year-old Hirohito succeeds to the imperial throne of Japan after five years as prince regent

The Japanese occupy the Chinese state of Manchuria

Japan renames the Chinese province of Manchuria, calling it Manchukuo – supposedly independent but in fact a puppet state

Japan announces its withdrawal from the League of Nations after a resolution is passed declaring the Japanese occupation of Manchuria illegal

Germany and Japan establish an Anti-Comintern Pact against their common enemy, the USSR

The Japanese use an incident at the Marco Polo Bridge, near Beijing, as the pretext for an attack on China

Japanese troops occupy Beijing – at the start of eight years of continuous war between China and Japan

The Japanese capture the Chinese capital, Nanjing, and massacre at least 300,000 inhabitants within a few weeks

An incident on the border between Japanese Manchukuo and Soviet territory sparks a four-month war with the USSR that brings heavy Japanese losses

Germany, Italy and Japan form a Tripartite Pact as a military alliance

The US Congress declares war on Japan and President Roosevelt endorses the order

Japanese emperor Hirohito appoints Tojo Hideki as the country's prime minister

Hong Kong surrenders to an invading Japanese force

US planes, flying from an aircraft carrier, undertake a difficult bombing raid on Tokyo

Japanese pilots fly the first of World War II's suicide or kamikaze missions

American B-29 bombers take off from the newly captured Saipan on the long trip to bomb Tokyo

Napalm, used to bomb a crowded part of Tokyo, creates a firestorm in which 80,000 die

US troops land on the island of Okinawa, only 300 miles from the main islands of Japan

Thousands of Japanese kamikaze pilots die in massed suicide attacks in defence of the island of Okinawa

A US destroyer is sunk by a baka, a rocket-propelled version of a kamikaze attack

After a ferocious three-month battle, Okinawa is in US hands

The Japanese emperor Hirohito argues the case for surrender but fails to persuade the military

An atom bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, destroying four square miles of the city and killing 80,000 people