On what date did Japan formally sign its World War II surrender document?

Japan formally signed its World War II surrender document on September 2, 1945.

The document was the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, a printed agreement that formally ended hostilities between Japan and the Allied powers. Japanese representatives signed it during a ceremony on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

The signing followed Emperor Hirohito’s August 15 broadcast announcing Japan’s acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration. That broadcast communicated the decision to surrender, but it was not itself the formal legal signing that ended the war.

The ceremony began shortly after 9 a.m. Japan Standard Time and lasted about 23 minutes. The document took effect at 9:25 a.m. Representatives of Japan signed first, followed by General Douglas MacArthur and representatives of the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.