Nine Allied governments signed Japan’s Instrument of Surrender after the Japanese delegates.
The Allied signatories represented the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. Douglas MacArthur signed first for the Allied powers, followed by Chester Nimitz for the United States and the other national representatives.
The nine governments reflected the broad coalition that had fought Japan across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. Their representatives did not all have identical wartime roles, but each signed the document in a designated national capacity.
The number nine can be confused with the total number of people who signed. Two Japanese representatives and eleven Allied and Japanese representatives together signed the ceremony’s documents, while the number of Allied governments was nine. The Potsdam Declaration also involved a smaller group of issuing powers, so it should not be used to count the signatories at the September ceremony.