What document formalized Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II?

The Japanese Instrument of Surrender formalized Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II.

The printed agreement recorded Japan’s acceptance of the terms set out by the Allied powers. It was signed on September 2, 1945, aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijiro Umezu signed for Japan.

The document should not be confused with the Potsdam Declaration, which demanded Japan’s surrender in July 1945, or the later Treaty of San Francisco, which restored Japan’s sovereignty in 1952. The Instrument of Surrender ended active hostilities, while the peace treaty addressed the postwar legal relationship between Japan and many Allied countries. Both the United States and Japan received signed versions of the surrender document.