evidence: It has not been widely known that the war continued in the Chishima (Kurile) Islands and Karafuto (Sakhalin) even after August 15, 1945, the day which is said to have marked the end of World War II. Soviet troops invaded territories governed by Japan, including Manchuria and South Karafuto (south Sakhalin), after breaking the Japanese-Soviet Neutrality Pact on August 9, 1945. They landed on Shumshu Island before dawn nine days later. [...] In 2019, an association of bereaved families and those related to Japanese who fought on Chishima and Karafuto came together to hold a memorial service for the war dead on Shumshu Island, said Yoshitaka Deguchi, chairman of the Karafuto Toyohara society and one of those promoting the event. A few years earlier, in 2016, the last memorial service carried out by former soldiers engaged in the Shumshu Battle was held under the sponsorship of the Kitachishima Irei no Kai.