Tokyo was the capital of Japan when the 1945 surrender ceremony took place in Tokyo Bay.
The formal ceremony was held aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. Tokyo was Japan’s imperial and political center, and the bay provided an appropriate location near the capital for the signing of the Instrument of Surrender.
The ceremony followed the announcement of Japan’s acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration. Allied naval forces had entered the area as preparations began for the occupation, and the surrender ceremony marked the transition from wartime operations to Allied administration.
Tokyo and Yokohama are sometimes confused in accounts of the event because the Allied fleet operated around both places. Tokyo Bay is the geographic setting, while Tokyo is the capital city on its shore. The ceremony itself occurred on a warship anchored in the bay, not in a government building in the city.