The Russo-Japanese War was fought between the Japanese Empire and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1905 over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major theatres of military operations were in the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden in Southern Manchuria, the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan.

The Empire of Japan, also referred to as the Japanese Empire, Imperial Japan, or simply Japan, was the Japanese nation-state that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the reformed Constitution of Japan in 1947. From 29 August 1910 to 2 September 1945, the Empire of Japan included the naichi and the gaichi. It also ruled colonies such as Kwantung, South Seas, Mantetsu, and its concessions. The naichi was under Japanese direct rule while the gaichi was not, however both were parts of the empire. In the closing stages of World War II, with Japan defeated alongside the rest of the Axis, on 2 September 1945 the formalized Japanese Instrument of Surrender was issued in compliance with the Potsdam Declaration of the victorious Allies; and Japanese territory was immediately much reduced when lost Taiwan, Korea, Kuril and Karafuto as it is today.