Japan’s formal surrender ceremony took place in Tokyo Bay aboard USS Missouri on 2 September 1945.
The American battleship was anchored near Tokyo, and representatives of Japan and the Allied powers assembled on its deck shortly after 9 a.m. Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijirō Umezu signed for Japan. General Douglas MacArthur then signed for the Allied powers, followed by representatives from the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
Tokyo Bay was chosen as the setting for the ceremony because it placed the surrender within sight of Japan’s capital while allowing a large Allied naval presence nearby. The event formally ended hostilities, although some Japanese forces in remote areas did not surrender immediately. The ceremony followed Hirohito’s public surrender announcement on 15 August by more than two weeks.