What was the official document that formally recorded Japan’s surrender in 1945?

The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the official document that formally recorded Japan’s surrender in 1945.

Japanese representatives signed the instrument aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. The document stated that Japan accepted the provisions of the Potsdam Declaration and ordered Japanese forces to cease hostilities and surrender.

General Douglas MacArthur signed for the Allied powers, followed by representatives from the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, and the Netherlands. Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijirō Umezu signed for Japan.

The instrument should not be confused with the Potsdam Declaration. The declaration set out Allied demands, while the instrument recorded Japan’s acceptance and surrender. Nor is it identical to the later Treaty of San Francisco, which restored Japan’s sovereignty in 1952 and formally ended the postwar state of war with many Allied countries.