What was the printed agreement that formally ended Japan’s participation in World War II?

The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the printed agreement that formally ended Japan’s participation in World War II.

Representatives of Japan and the Allied nations signed the instrument on 2 September 1945 aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The document stated that Japan accepted the provisions of the Potsdam Declaration and ordered the unconditional surrender of Japanese armed forces. It took effect at approximately 9:25 a.m. Japan Standard Time.

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

The instrument is often confused with the Potsdam Declaration. Potsdam was an Allied proclamation issued on 26 July that set out surrender terms; the instrument was Japan’s formal acceptance of those terms. The later Treaty of San Francisco, signed in 1951 and effective in 1952, dealt with the postwar peace settlement and was not the document signed on V-J Day.