Nine Allied countries signed Japan’s formal surrender document in Tokyo Bay.
The Allied signatories represented the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. Their representatives signed after General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz had signed for the Allied command and the United States.
The arrangement reflected the wide geographic reach of the war against Japan. The signatories included the major powers directing the final campaign as well as countries that had fought Japan in the Pacific, Southeast Asia, and other theaters.
The number is sometimes confused with the number of Japanese delegates. Eleven Japanese representatives attended the ceremony, but only Mamoru Shigemitsu and Yoshijiro Umezu signed the instrument. The document therefore recorded signatures from nine Allied nations and two Japanese representatives.