The 1945 ceremony signing Japan’s surrender instrument lasted 23 minutes.
The ceremony began shortly after 9 a.m. on 2 September 1945 and concluded at about 9:25 a.m. It took place on the deck of USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay before representatives of Japan and the Allied powers, with many Allied ships nearby.
Mamoru Shigemitsu and Yoshijirō Umezu signed first for Japan. Douglas MacArthur then signed for the Allied powers, followed by representatives of the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
Although brief, the ceremony had enormous symbolic importance. It converted Japan’s announced acceptance of the surrender terms into a formal, witnessed act. The event was broadcast internationally, helping audiences distinguish the public announcement of surrender in August from the legal signing in September.