A 31-star U.S. flag was displayed at Japan’s surrender ceremony because it had been carried by Commodore Perry.
The historic flag had been used aboard one of Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s ships during the U.S. expedition to Japan in 1853–1854. Perry’s expedition pressured Japan to open ports and helped produce the Convention of Kanagawa.
The flag was displayed aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945, creating a deliberate connection between Perry’s earlier arrival in Tokyo Bay and the surrender ceremony nearly a century later. It was not the flag that had flown over the White House during the attack on Pearl Harbor, a common misconception.
The fragile original is associated with the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland. A replica is displayed at the Battleship Missouri Memorial in Pearl Harbor. Photographs show the historic flag’s reverse side, making its stars appear on the opposite side from what many viewers expect.