The formal Japanese surrender ceremony aboard USS Missouri lasted 23 minutes on 2 September 1945.
The proceedings began shortly after 9:00 a.m. in Tokyo Bay. Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed first, followed by General Yoshijirō Umezu, who represented Imperial General Headquarters. Douglas MacArthur then accepted the surrender for the Allied Powers.
Representatives from nine Allied governments signed after MacArthur, including the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. The ceremony concluded at approximately 9:25 a.m. Japan Standard Time.
The brief duration reflected the ceremony's carefully prepared protocol. It was not a peace treaty; it was a formal instrument of capitulation that ended hostilities. Postwar occupation arrangements, legal settlements, and a later peace treaty were separate developments.