What document formally recorded Japan's capitulation to the Allies in 1945?

The Japanese Instrument of Surrender formally recorded Japan's capitulation to the Allies in 1945.

The document was signed aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2. It stated that Japan accepted the provisions of the Potsdam Declaration and ordered the unconditional surrender of Japanese armed forces.

Mamoru Shigemitsu signed for the Japanese government, while General Yoshijiro Umezu signed for Imperial General Headquarters. General Douglas MacArthur then signed as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, followed by representatives of the participating Allied governments.

The instrument is not the same as the Potsdam Declaration. The declaration was an Allied demand issued on July 26, 1945; the surrender instrument was the document that accepted those terms. It also differs from the later Treaty of San Francisco, signed in 1951, which formally ended the state of war between Japan and many Allied nations and restored Japan's sovereignty.