Which civilian Japanese official signed the surrender document aboard USS Missouri in 1945?

Mamoru Shigemitsu was the civilian Japanese official who signed the surrender document aboard USS Missouri in 1945.

Shigemitsu served as Japan’s foreign minister during the final days of the war. At the surrender ceremony on September 2, 1945, he signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender “by command and in behalf of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese Government.” He signed before General Yoshijirō Umezu, who represented Imperial General Headquarters.

Shigemitsu used a cane and had an artificial right leg after being injured in a 1932 bombing in Shanghai. His presence at the ceremony made him visually distinctive in photographs and film of the event. He represented the civilian government, while Umezu represented Japan’s military command.

Shigemitsu’s role is sometimes confused with that of General Umezu because both signed for Japan. The distinction is important: Shigemitsu signed for the Japanese government, whereas Umezu signed for Imperial General Headquarters. Shigemitsu later returned to Japanese politics after serving a prison sentence imposed by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.