Kammala jumla mai zuwa: Daular Japan ita ce jagorar ikon Axis a cikin Pacific Theater. Wasu masana suna la'akari da barkewar Yaƙin Sino-Japan na biyu, wanda ya fara lokacin da Japan ta mamaye China bayan faruwar Marco Polo Bridge a 1937, ya zama ainihin farkon Yaƙin Duniya na II. Wannan rikici ya haɗu da yakin duniya bayan harin Japan a kan Pearl Harbor a watan Disamba na 1941, wanda aka biyo baya nan da nan ta hanyar jerin hare-haren da aka tsara a kan Amurka da ke Philippines, Guam da Wake Island; a kan mulkin mallaka na Birtaniya na Malaya, Singapore, da Hong Kong; da kuma a kan Mulkin Thailand. A lokacin 1942 Japan ta kaddamar da hare-hare a Sin, kudu maso gabashin Asiya, da kuma Pacific Theaters na yaki. A ƙarshen 1942 Japan ta kasance mai karewa yayin da Allies suka juyo da nasarorin da suka samu a baya. Bam ɗin Atomic na Hiroshima da Nagasaki da Amurka ta yi, tare da sanarwar yaƙi da Tarayyar Soviet ta yi, sun shawo kan gwamnatin Japan ta yi
mika wuya ba tare da wani sharadi ba a ranar 2 ga Satumba, 1945. An yanke wa shugabannin siyasa da sojoji da yawa daga Japan hukuncin aikata laifukan yaki a gaban kotun Tokyo da sauran kotunan Allied a Asiya.