What date did the formal Japanese Instrument of Surrender take effect in 1945?

The formal Japanese Instrument of Surrender took effect on September 2, 1945.

Japanese and Allied representatives signed the document aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay shortly after 9 a.m. Japan Standard Time. The instrument stated that Japan accepted the provisions of the Potsdam Declaration and ordered the unconditional surrender of Japanese armed forces.

The date is sometimes confused with August 15, when Emperor Hirohito’s recorded radio announcement was broadcast to the Japanese people. That announcement revealed that Japan had accepted the Allied terms, but it was not the formal signing ceremony. In the United States, President Harry S. Truman designated September 2 as the official V-J Day.

The signing followed Germany’s surrender in May 1945 and ended the Second World War as a global conflict. Separate Japanese surrender ceremonies then occurred in other regions, including Nanjing, Korea, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia, as Japanese forces handed over their weapons and authority.