Japan’s formal surrender ceremony aboard USS Missouri was held in Tokyo Bay.
On September 2, 1945, the battleship anchored in the bay while Japanese and Allied representatives gathered on its deck. The location placed the ceremony close to Japan’s capital while keeping it aboard a powerful Allied naval vessel. Approximately 250 Allied ships were in the surrounding area.
The Japanese delegation included Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijirō Umezu, who signed on behalf of the Japanese government and Imperial General Headquarters. Allied representatives then signed for their respective governments.
Tokyo Bay is not the same location as Pearl Harbor, where Japan’s attack brought the United States into the Pacific War in December 1941. Nor was the signing held in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, the two Japanese cities hit by atomic bombs. The bay therefore links the final surrender ceremony directly to Tokyo and the beginning of the occupation.