Nine Allied nations signed Japan’s surrender document after the Japanese delegation in 1945.
The signatories represented the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. General Douglas MacArthur signed first for the Allied powers, followed by the national representatives in the ceremony’s planned order.
The Japanese delegation consisted of eleven people, but only two signed the document: Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu for the government and General Yoshijirō Umezu for Imperial General Headquarters. The remaining Japanese delegates attended as representatives of the army, navy, and foreign ministry.
The nine Allied signatories reflected the broad coalition that had fought Japan across the Pacific and Asia. Some of the representatives had distinctive wartime histories: Soviet General Kuzma Derevyanko represented the Soviet Union, while Australian General Thomas Blamey and New Zealand Air Vice-Marshal Leonard Isitt represented Commonwealth forces. The document therefore recorded both Japan’s surrender and the coalition that accepted it.