Japan signed its World War II surrender aboard USS Missouri.
The ceremony took place on the ship's deck in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. Missouri was an Iowa-class battleship of the United States Navy and had entered service in 1944. Its selection gave the ceremony a prominent Allied setting close to Japan's capital.
The ship arrived in Tokyo Bay in late August after weather delayed the original ceremony schedule. General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied powers, opened the proceedings at 9:02 a.m. Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu led the Japanese delegation, and Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz represented the United States after MacArthur signed for the Allied nations.
Missouri also carried a historic American flag associated with Commodore Matthew Perry's 1853 expedition to Japan. That detail connects the surrender ceremony with the earlier opening of Japan to American diplomatic and commercial pressure, although the flag's exact display history has often been simplified in popular retellings.