V-J Day

The Empire of Japan and the Allied Forces formally agreed to an unconditional Japanese surrender in World War II on September 2nd, 1945. When leaders from Japan, the U.S.A., UK, France, China, the USSR and others signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, it effectively ended World War II. At present there is copy of the document on display on the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor, HI.

^{(photos from my 2001 trip to Hawai‘i)}

I visited the National Archives Museum in Washington DC in the fall of 2025. The Japanese translation of the Instrument of Surrender was on display at the museum at that time. I never realized that the Japanese official party understood little or no English and the document had to be translated. Until I saw the document of course.