The last Japanese soldier to surrender was Captain Fumio Nakahira who held out until April, 1980, before being discovered at Mt. Halcon on Mindoro Island in the Philippines. Before that, there was Onoda Hiroo, discovered in the jungle of Lubang Island on March 11, 1974, twenty-nine years after the war ended.
To convince the Japanese to surrender
The Japanese "instrument of surrender" was signed on board the USS Missouri on the 2nd of September, 1945. Please see the related links.
The official ending of World War 2 was in September 2nd, after the unconditional surrender of Japan. But some matters that were started in WW2 were not taken care of until 1990... It wasn't until 1990 when Germany was reunited, given an official peace treaty and full sovereignty, pointing out that the world finally recovered from the effects of WW2.
Some Japanese soldiers called "Hold Outs" in the Pacific.
USSR
2 Atomic bombs dropped on them
The invasion of Russians into Manchuria against the Japanese and the dropping of the two Atomic Bombs finally brought the Japanese to their knees, to surrender.
The Japanese signed the surrender documents on the USS Missouri.
The United States dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima, a major Japanese city. This did not result in surrender. So the United States dropped a second atom bomb on Nagasaki, another major Japanese city. This was finally enough to force the Japanese into surrendering.
The atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan and the Russians were ready to invade Japan when the Japanese finally chose to surrender.
Admiral Yamamoto was probably the most famous Japanese military figure, but he was a sailor, not a soldier.
The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the written agreement that enabled the Surrender of Japan, ending World War II.
To convince the Japanese to surrender
They Surrendered aboard the USS Missouri
The U.S.A dropped the atomic bom
The battleship USS Missouri.
During World War II, the event that served as the final catalyst for the Japanese surrender to the Allies was the dropping of a second atomic bomb upon Japan by American air forces. On August 9, 1945, the Japanese city of Nagasaki was destroyed completely by this bomb. Less than one week later, the Japanese initiated a total surrender to the Allies.