Who accepted Japan’s formal surrender for the Allied powers in September 1945?

Douglas MacArthur accepted Japan’s formal surrender for the Allied powers on September 2, 1945.

MacArthur served as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, the authority responsible for directing the occupation and implementing the surrender terms in Japan. He opened the ceremony aboard USS Missouri and signed the Instrument of Surrender in that capacity.

After MacArthur signed, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz signed for the United States. Representatives of China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand then signed for their governments. Japan’s representatives had signed before the Allied delegates.

MacArthur’s role is sometimes confused with Nimitz’s because both were senior American commanders in the Pacific. Nimitz commanded the U.S. Pacific Fleet, while MacArthur was the Allied commander who formally accepted Japan’s surrender and led the occupation authority.