The Japanese Instrument of Surrender ceremony took place in Tokyo Bay.
The ceremony was held aboard the USS Missouri, which was anchored in the bay on September 2, 1945. Tokyo Bay provided a secure anchorage close to Japan's capital and allowed the Allied fleet to display its overwhelming naval presence.
The location also carried historical symbolism. The American flag displayed at the ceremony had been flown by Commodore Matthew Perry during his 1853–54 expedition into Japan. Perry's expedition had entered the same broad maritime region nearly a century earlier, helping force the opening of Japan to foreign trade.
Around 250 Allied vessels were present in or near Tokyo Bay during the surrender period. The ceremony itself was brief, but its setting made clear that Japan's defeat had occurred in the heart of its former wartime sphere.