There were in fact a number of Japanese holdouts in the post war period. From Lieutenant Ei Yamaguchi on Pelilu, who had to have his old commanding officer sent out to convince him to surrender in 1947, to Teruo Nakamura who surrendered in Indonesia in 1974, many Japanese soldiers either did not get the news that the war had ended, or dismissed it as propaganda. We do have a number of accounts on their thoughts and lives during that time period due to a number of them having written autobiographies, most famously Hiroo Onoda's "No Surrender: My Thirty Year War". Shoichi Yokoi's book, "Private Yokoi's War and Life on Guam, 1944-1972", was published in English in 2009.

The show is likely giving reference to one particular soldier, technically the last Japanese soldier to surrender, Hiroo Onoda.

This is a picture of him surrendering, in 1974.

He was sent in 1944 to Lubang Island in the Philippines as a 2nd Lt. with instructions to dig in, carry out guerilla operations, and await further orders. Which is exactly what he did. For 30 years.

Sources for above;

• The Japan Times, Words To Live By: Hiroo Onoda, Judit Kawaguchi, Jan 16, 2007. www.japantimes.co.jp.

• No Surrender: My 30 Year War, Hiroo Onoda. 1999. Translated to English by Charles S. Terry.

That one instance aside, however, yes there were other Japanese soldiers that didn't surrender immediately following the Sep. 2, 1945 surrender of Japan, either because they thought the news of the surrender was enemy propoganda (as was the case with Onoda) or because they hadn't heard the news, yet. First, we need to establish one thing: The area they were fighting in was actually quite large, and much of it is very remote (specifically the Philippines), so it's not that crazy to think that there were soldiers in isolated areas that just never heard the news of Japan's surrender.

There is also the story of Capt. Sakae Oba, who surrendered on December 1, 1945. While only a few months after Japan's official surrender, Capt. Oba led a group of 46 men in the mountains of Saipan until news of the surrender had reached them. Capt. Oba was an officer during the Battle Of Saipan, and after the eventual Japanese defeat by the US Marine Corps, he led a group of soldiers and civilians into the mountains to evade Allied capture, where they would remain for over a year. By Sept. 30, 1944, Japan had declared all unaccounted for soldiers from the Battle Of Saipan as killed in action, including Capt. Oba, who was then posthomously promoted to Major (although after discovering he was indeed still alive Japan rescinded his posthomous promotion).

His story was eventually told in a book by Don Jones, a US Marine who survived Pearl Harbor as well as Oba's guerilla attacks on Saipan. Many years after learning of Oba's surrender, Jones set out to contact him to tell his story. He and Oba eventually became close friends, and Jones wrote Oba: The Last Samurai, the true story of Capt. Oba's time in the mountains of Saipan. Jones eventually tracked down the US Marine Corps officer who accepted Oba's surrender and convinced him to return Oba's sword. Although Capt. Oba passed away in 1992, his sword remains with his family to this day.

Sources for above:

• The Japan Times, Japan's Renegade Hero Gives Saipan A New Hope, Rob Gilhooly, May 15, 2011. www.japantimes.co.jp

• Oba: The Last Samurai: Saipan 1944-45, Don Jones. 1986.

Japanese units would continue to either surrender or join other conflicts for years to come.

• Major Sei Igawa volunteered with the Viet Minh and was killed by French soldiers in 1946.

• In January of 1946, 120 Japanese soldiers were routed in the mountains north of Manila by 86th Infantry Division.

• In 1946, the Filipino 341st Infantry Division and American 86th Infantry Division began a 7 week long clearing operation of Lubang Island (where Onoda was still hiding out).

• April 22, 1947, Lt. Ei Yamaguchi and 33 Japanese soldiers surrendered to US Marines in Peleliu. Lt. Yamaguchi They had been conducting guerilla style raids against the US Marines stationed there. Lt. Yamaguchi led elements of the Japanese 2nd Infantry Division and sailors of the 45th Guard Force in resistance until their official surrender in 1947.

Sources for above:

• www.wanpela.com, Chronology Of Japanese Holdouts

• Peleliu Historical Society, Peleliu War History, http://www.peleliuhistorical.org/history.html

There are other accounts, too, although I'm having trouble verifying them with credible sources. The answer to your question, though, is that the war did not end on Sep. 2 1945 for the Japanese. There were many units either too isolated to know that the war was over, or too determined to continue the fight.

My favorite book about the holdouts was "The Lost Men of Anatahan."

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lost-Anatahan-Teiji-Fukami/product-reviews/B0007ERL1A

A lot of the holdouts refused to believe that the war was over. That was a theme in this book. It is a good demonstration of confirmation bias. The book itself dealt with the thirty-odd holdouts on Anatahan Island. But they gave up after only five years.

Some holdouts refused to go back until the 1970's or so, and a few just melted into the population in other places, knowing the war was over and just starting out afresh. But those are the subject of other books.