Where was the formal Japanese surrender ceremony held on September 2, 1945?

The formal Japanese surrender ceremony was held aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.

The American battleship was anchored in Tokyo Bay, close to the location where Commodore Matthew Perry’s ships had anchored in 1853. Japanese representatives boarded the vessel and signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on its deck.

General Douglas MacArthur opened the ceremony as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. Representatives from Japan and nine Allied governments then signed the document, which formally ended hostilities between Japan and the Allies.

USS Missouri was an Iowa-class battleship commissioned in 1944. Its selection gave the ceremony a highly visible naval setting, while its location in Tokyo Bay placed the surrender directly off the Japanese capital.