September 2 is the official United States commemoration of Victory over Japan Day.
The date corresponds to the formal signing of Japan’s surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay in 1945. The ceremony ended hostilities with the Allied powers and is treated in the United States as the official V-J Day date.
Other countries use different dates because the surrender announcement and signing occurred across time zones and involved separate milestones. In Japan, the emperor’s recorded announcement was broadcast on August 15. The United Kingdom officially observes August 15, while the United States commonly associates V-J Day with September 2.
The term V-J Day means “Victory over Japan Day.” It was modeled on V-E Day, or Victory in Europe Day, which marked Germany’s surrender in May 1945. V-J Day is therefore not a single universally observed date: August 14 or 15 can refer to the announcement, while September 2 refers to the formal signing.