Kiss-In Saturday or V-J Day

Times Square Kiss in Day or V-J (Victory over Japan) Day is the most memorable day in the history of New York. This day is also known as V - J Day because it was on that day surrender of Japan occurred effectively ending World War II. Yesterday, my friend Rebecca happened to be in Times Square and caught this image of an oversized replica of the famous photo!

On August 14th, 1945 hundreds of people gathered in the middle of Times Square with the ray of hope and excitement, with their eyes fixed on the Times Tower. Suddenly the words flashed on the news zipper: “OFFICIAL – TRUMAN ANNOUNCES JAPANESE SURRENDER.” At this Times Square busted into tears of joy and happiness.

Shortly after the announcement Alfred Eisenstaedt saw a sailor running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight .Then suddenly, in a flash, he saw something white being grabbed. He turned around and captured the moment - the sailor kissed the nurse. This shot became a cultural icon overnight and 60 years after the fact, a world-famous kiss has been immortalized with a sculpture in New York's Times Square. Alfred Eisenstaedt was a German-American photographer and photojournalist. He is renowned for his ‘Out of the Blue’ photographs. He is best known for this photograph capturing the celebration of V-J Day. The photograph was originally published a week later in Life magazine.

August 14th, 1945 became a historical and memorable day for New York and from that day onwards every year New York celebrates this day as Kiss in Event in Times Square. Thousands of couples are invited every year from across the country on this event to renew this moment of joy and happiness.

This year, the Times Square Alliance is celebrating the kiss in Anniversary on Saturday August14th by inviting couples from all ages and from all walks of life for the smooch fest renewing the wonderful moment of hope and excitement. The Program will be sponsored by Maybelline. Doors are open from 10:00 am and the program starts at 11:00 a.m. The make-over of participant’s will be given by Maybelline’s professional artists making your lips ready for smooching. Professional photographers will be on-site to capture post-makeover shots of participants. This event will be organised at Military Island, at the intersection of Broadway and 7th Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets.