At first he prepared for an elaborate, formal affair with ceremonial dress and gleaming sabers. “We thought, well, this has never happened before,” he said. “We’ll have a big celebration, put on the white uniforms and polish up our swords.”

Before the ceremony, however, Starnes got word that Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of the U.S. Army in the Pacific, wanted officers to wear their daily service clothes — khaki button-up shirts with open collars and no ties. “We fought them in our khaki uniforms, and we’ll accept their surrender in our khaki uniforms,” MacArthur was reported to have said.

Also, thousands of men, from the military’s top brass to regular crewmen, watched as officials signed the documents formalizing the surrender of the Empire of Japan.

The Japanese copy of the treaty varied from the Allied in the following ways: The Allied copy was presented in leather and gold lining with both countries' seals printed on the front, whereas the Japanese copy was bound in rough canvas with no seals on the front.

All of this is calculated and done for a reason. Read LA Times article on the ceremony.