World War II · The Pacific · 15 August – 2 September 1945
Surrender in Tokyo Bay: How the Second World War Ended, 1945
A deadlocked government, a failed coup, two white bombers with green crosses, a battleship anchored where Commodore Perry once lay, and twenty-three minutes on a Sunday morning that ended the Second World War.
At 9:04 on the morning of 2 September 1945, on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan’s Foreign Minister signed the Instrument of Surrender. Twenty-one minutes later the Second World War was over. This collection tells how it came to that table, what happened at it, and what followed, in nine chapters.
Key facts
What happened
In the summer of 1945 Japan was beaten but would not surrender. The Allies’ ultimatum from Potsdam went unanswered; then, in four days, came Hiroshima, a Soviet invasion and Nagasaki (Chapter 1). The government deadlocked, and Emperor Hirohito broke the deadlock twice in favor of peace, while young officers seized his palace in a failed attempt to stop the broadcast of his decision (Chapter 2). The world celebrated on 14 and 15 August, though men kept dying in Manchuria and the Kurils (Chapter 3).
Japanese envoys flew to Manila in white aircraft marked with green crosses; the Third Fleet anchored under Mount Fuji; MacArthur landed unarmed at a kamikaze airfield (Chapter 4). The setting was chosen with care: a battleship named for the President’s state, anchored where Commodore Perry had anchored in 1853, with Perry’s own flag on the bulkhead (Chapter 5). On the morning of 2 September the ceremony took twenty-three minutes (Chapter 6). A dozen more surrenders followed across Asia (Chapter 7), then an occupation that rewrote Japan’s constitution (Chapter 8). The ship now lies at Pearl Harbor, facing the Arizona (Chapter 9).
Why it matters
The ceremony in Tokyo Bay ended the deadliest war in history. It did so without the invasion of Japan that both sides had prepared for. The way it was done, a formal act between governments, a speech about the future and an occupation that worked through the defeated country’s own institutions, shaped the peace that followed. Japan and the United States have now been allies for far longer than they were enemies.
Connected collections
From the beginning to the end
The Pacific war on this site runs from the Marco Polo Bridge and Pearl Harbor through Midway, Guadalcanal, Leyte Gulf, Manila, Iwo Jima and Okinawa to the atomic bombs. This is the last chapter. See the WWII hub for all of them.
How to use this collection
Read the nine chapters in order for the whole story, or start with Chapter 6 for the ceremony itself. Each chapter has photo galleries, a decision to weigh, maps where they help, and its own sources.
The collection
9 chapters
Read in order for the full story, or start anywhere.
01July – 9 August 1945The Last Summer: Potsdam, the Bombs and the Soviet AttackA defeated country with four million soldiers, an ultimatum from Potsdam, two atomic bombs and a Soviet invasion in four days, and six men who could not agree.
029 – 15 August 1945To Bear the Unbearable: The Emperor’s Decision and the Last CoupA deadlocked government asks a silent emperor to choose. He chooses peace, twice. Young officers seize his palace to stop him, and a recording hidden in a safe ends the war.
0314 – 31 August 1945V-J Day: The Announcement, the Celebrations and the War That Went OnTwo million people in Times Square, an airman killed over Tokyo three days after the ceasefire, and a Soviet offensive that kept going until September.
0419 – 30 August 1945Green Crosses: Manila, Atsugi and the Fleet in Sagami BayTwo white bombers fly to an island off Okinawa, the Third Fleet anchors under Mount Fuji, sailors pull prisoners out of the camps, and MacArthur lands unarmed at a kamikaze base.
0529 August – 2 September 1945The Ship and the Flag: Why the War Ended on USS MissouriA battleship named for the President’s state, an anchorage chosen for a commodore dead eighty-seven years, a flag flown across the world in a locked case, and a mess table with coffee stains.
062 September 1945Twenty-Three Minutes: The Ceremony, 2 September 1945Eleven Japanese delegates, a general’s speech nobody expected, twelve signatures, one mistake, and a sky full of aircraft.
0722 August 1945 – 1974Wherever Situated: The Surrenders Across Asia and the PacificNanjing, Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong, Rabaul, Wake: a dozen more ceremonies, three and a half million soldiers to disarm, and a lieutenant who fought on for twenty-nine years.
08September 1945 – April 1952After the Guns: The Occupation of JapanA general in an insurance building, an emperor in a rumpled suit, a constitution written in a week, a trial of twenty-eight, and a peace treaty in an opera house.
091945 – todayWhere It Ended: The Paper, the Ship and the MemoryA document in Washington, a battleship moored beside the Arizona, a dent that was never repaired, and what the morning of 2 September 1945 came to mean.Maps
The end of the war on two maps
The first map covers East Asia in August and September 1945; the second shows Tokyo Bay in the week of the ceremony. Press the phase buttons in order.
Interactive map 1 of 2 · East Asia and the western Pacific
The end of the war against Japan, August–September 1945
Interactive map 2 of 2 · Tokyo Bay and Sagami Bay
Tokyo Bay, 27 August – 2 September 1945
Forces
Who fought
The signers, the witnesses and the men who made the decision. Filter by side.
Interactive · filter
Who was there
Presided, spoke and signed for all the Allies.
Chapter 6 →Signed for the United States.
Chapter 6 →Host; Missouri was his flagship.
Chapter 4 →Stood behind MacArthur as he signed.
Chapter 6 →The ship on which the war ended.
Chapter 5 →The first occupation troops ashore.
Chapter 4 →Signed for China.
Chapter 6 →Signed for the United Kingdom.
Chapter 6 →Signed for the Soviet Union.
Chapter 6 →Signed for Australia.
Chapter 6 →Signed for Canada, on the wrong line of the Japanese copy.
Chapter 6 →Signed for France.
Chapter 6 →Signed for the Netherlands.
Chapter 6 →Signed for New Zealand.
Chapter 6 →Stood with Wainwright behind MacArthur.
Chapter 6 →Signed for the Emperor and the government.
Chapter 6 →Signed for the armed forces, on the Emperor’s order.
Chapter 6 →Decided for surrender on 10 and 14 August; not present.
Chapter 2 →Asked the Emperor to decide.
Chapter 1 →Received MacArthur’s requirements, 19–20 August.
Chapter 4 →You decide
Command decisions
Several chapters put you in a commander’s place before showing what actually happened.
Command decision · you decide
Unconditional, or with a condition?
You are President Truman on 10 August 1945. Japan offers to accept the Potsdam terms provided the Emperor’s prerogatives as sovereign are not prejudiced. Your policy, and Roosevelt’s before you, is unconditional surrender. Your military advisers say the Emperor may be the only person who can make four million Japanese soldiers lay down their arms.
Numbers
By the numbers
Every figure carries its source. Where sources disagree, the chapters say so.
The ceremony by the clock, 2 September 1945
Japanese forces surrendered at selected ceremonies
People
The people in the story
Select a name for the chapter where they appear.
Spoke of a better world emerging from the blood and carnage of the past.
Chose the Missouri and announced the surrender on 14 August.
Signed for the United States.
Brought the fleet into Tokyo Bay and sent for the prisoners.
Showed Shigemitsu where to sign and corrected the Japanese copy.
Freed from a prison camp in Manchuria days before the ceremony.
Went ashore to free the prisoners at Omori before the surrender was signed.
Carried Perry’s flag from Annapolis to Tokyo Bay.
Twice chose surrender when his government could not.
Asked the Emperor to break the deadlock.
Opposed surrender, refused to join the coup, and killed himself at dawn on 15 August.
Led the attempt to seize the palace and the recording.
Signed for Japan; later convicted at the Tokyo trial, then Foreign Minister again.
A member of the delegation whose account of the morning is the best known.
Fought on in the Philippines until 1974.
Valor
The twelve signatures
Two Japanese representatives signed first, then the Supreme Commander, then nine Allied nations in the order shown.
Signed at 9:04 a.m. Chapter 6
Signed at 9:06 a.m. Chapter 6
Signed at 9:08 a.m. Chapter 6
Signed at 9:12 a.m. Chapter 6
Gallery · 4 photographs · select to enlarge
The instrument
Myth or fact
What people get wrong
Myth or fact · open each card
Six things people get wrong
Japan surrendered on V-J Day, 15 August.
Japan announced its acceptance on 14–15 August. The surrender was signed on 2 September, which is the official V-J Day in the United States. See Chapter 3.
The surrender was unconditional and the Emperor had no say.
Japan accepted after the Allies replied that the Emperor would be subject to the Supreme Commander, and the Emperor personally made the decision. See Chapter 2.
The flag on the Missouri’s mast was the one from the Capitol on Pearl Harbor day.
The ship’s captain said it was an ordinary Navy-issue flag. The historic flag aboard was Commodore Perry’s, displayed on a bulkhead. See Chapter 5.
Everyone signed in the right place.
The Canadian representative signed on the wrong line of the Japanese copy, and the document had to be corrected by hand. See Chapter 6.
The fighting stopped on 15 August.
Soviet operations continued into September, and an American airman was killed over Tokyo on 18 August. See Chapter 3.
MacArthur wrote Japan’s constitution.
His staff drafted it in a week in February 1946; the Japanese Diet debated, amended and adopted it. See Chapter 8.
Gallery · 14 photographs · select to enlarge
The surrender in photographs
Then and now
The Missouri, 1945 and today
Drag the slider to compare.
Quiz
Test yourself
9 questions. Every answer is explained in the chapters.
Score: answer a question to begin.
1. On what date was the Instrument of Surrender signed?
See Chapter 6.
2. Aboard which ship?
See Chapter 5.
3. Who signed first?
For the Emperor and the Japanese government, at 9:04 a.m. See Chapter 6.
4. Whose 1853 flag was displayed at the ceremony?
It was flown out from the Naval Academy. See Chapter 5.
5. Which two former prisoners stood behind MacArthur as he signed?
See Chapter 6.
6. What marked the aircraft that carried the Japanese delegation to Ie Shima?
See Chapter 4.
7. What was the Kyujo Incident?
On the night of 14–15 August. See Chapter 2.
8. Which representative signed on the wrong line?
Col. Cosgrave, on the Japanese copy. See Chapter 6.
9. Where is USS Missouri today?
Moored facing the Arizona Memorial. See Chapter 9.
FAQ
Questions and answers
When did Japan surrender in World War II?
Where was the surrender signed?
On the deck of the battleship USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. See Chapter 5.
Why was it signed on the USS Missouri?
As a compromise between the Army and the Navy: Gen. MacArthur would preside, on a Navy ship. The Missouri was named for President Truman’s home state and had been launched by his daughter. See Chapter 5.
Who signed the Instrument of Surrender?
Shigemitsu Mamoru and Umezu Yoshijiro for Japan; MacArthur for the Allied Powers; Nimitz for the United States; and representatives of China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands and New Zealand. See Chapter 6.
How long did the ceremony last?
Twenty-three minutes, from 9:02 to 9:25 a.m. on Sunday, 2 September 1945. See Chapter 6.
Was Emperor Hirohito at the surrender?
No. The Foreign Minister signed on his behalf. The Emperor announced the decision to his people by radio on 15 August. See Chapter 2.
What is V-J Day?
Victory over Japan Day. The United States marks 2 September, the United Kingdom and others 15 August, and China and Russia 3 September. See Chapter 3.
Why did Japan surrender?
What was the Potsdam Declaration?
The statement of 26 July 1945 by the United States, Britain and China setting out the terms for Japan’s surrender. See Chapter 1.
Did Japan’s army try to stop the surrender?
A group of officers seized the Imperial Palace on the night of 14–15 August to prevent the broadcast, killed the commander of the Imperial Guards and failed. See Chapter 2.
What flag was on display during the ceremony?
The thirty-one-star flag flown by Commodore Matthew Perry in Tokyo Bay in 1853, brought from the U.S. Naval Academy. See Chapter 5.
What happened to Japan after the surrender?
It was occupied by the Allies under Gen. MacArthur until 28 April 1952. A new constitution took effect in 1947. See Chapter 8.
Where is the surrender document now?
The Allied copy is in the National Archives in Washington; the Japanese copy is in the Diplomatic Archives of Japan’s Foreign Ministry. See Chapter 9.
Can you visit the USS Missouri?
Yes. The Battleship Missouri Memorial is at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and the surrender deck is on the tour. See Chapter 9.
Was the USS North Carolina in Tokyo Bay?
She was with the Third Fleet off Japan, sent men ashore for occupation duty and anchored in Tokyo Bay on 5 September 1945. She is now a memorial at Wilmington, North Carolina. See Chapter 9.
Sources
Sources and further reading
Official histories first; summaries are used only where noted.
- National Archives, Milestone Documents, “Surrender of Japan (1945)” — the Instrument of Surrender as a milestone document, with transcript
- National Archives, DocsTeach, “Instrument of Surrender of Japan” — the instrument in the National Archives’ teaching collection
- National Archives, DocsTeach, “Surrender Ceremony Aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan” — the record photograph of the ceremony
- Naval History and Heritage Command, “Deck Plan of USS Missouri (BB-63) During the Surrender Ceremony” — the Navy’s deck plan of the ceremony
- Naval Historical Center Online Library (HyperWar), “Japanese Surrender, Tokyo Bay, 2 September 1945” — the Navy’s photographs of the surrender period
- Battleship Missouri Memorial, “The Surrender” — the Battleship Missouri Memorial’s account
- Truman Library Institute, “The Surrender of Japan” — the Truman Library Institute’s exhibit on the surrender
- Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, “Celebrating the End of the War” — the Smithsonian on the end of the war
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