The 1945 Japanese surrender ceremony was held in Tokyo Bay.
On September 2, representatives of Japan and the Allied powers gathered aboard USS Missouri, which was anchored in Tokyo Bay. The location was close to Japan’s capital but took place on a warship rather than in a government building or city hall. The setting allowed Allied naval forces to remain visibly present while the document was signed.
The ceremony formally ended hostilities between Japan and the Allies. Japan’s foreign minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijirō Umezu signed first, followed by Douglas MacArthur and representatives of the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
Tokyo Bay also carried historical symbolism. Commodore Matthew Perry’s American naval expedition had entered the bay in 1853, and a flag associated with that expedition was displayed during the 1945 ceremony. The signing therefore connected two major moments in Japan’s modern international history.