The 1945 surrender ceremony officially ended at 9:25 a.m. Japan Standard Time.
The time marks the close of the proceedings aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. The signing sequence began with Mamoru Shigemitsu at 9:04 a.m., followed by Yoshijiro Umezu, Douglas MacArthur, and the representatives of the Allied nations. MacArthur then made concluding remarks and closed the ceremony.
The precise time is useful because several different moments are often compressed into the phrase “Japan surrendered.” Hirohito’s radio address was broadcast on August 15, the Allied announcement reached the American public on August 14 in U.S. time, and the formal document was signed on September 2. The 9:25 a.m. time identifies the end of the shipboard ceremony itself.
It does not mean every Japanese unit stopped fighting instantly. Regional surrender ceremonies followed across Asia and the Pacific, and some isolated Japanese personnel resisted for years after the formal ceremony.