Which Japanese army general signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri?

Yoshijirō Umezu signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri as Japan’s army representative.

Umezu was Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff when he signed on September 2, 1945. He represented the Japanese military alongside Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, who signed for the government. Umezu’s signature completed Japan’s formal capitulation to the Allied powers.

The ceremony required both civilian and military representation because Japan’s wartime government and armed forces were surrendering together. Umezu signed the Japanese copy of the document before Allied representatives added their signatures. Photographs show him standing near Shigemitsu during the proceedings.

Umezu later faced prosecution at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. He was convicted of crimes against peace and received a life sentence. He died in prison in 1949. He is often confused with Hideki Tojo, Japan’s wartime prime minister, who was not a signatory at the surrender ceremony.