Yoshijiro Umezu signed the Instrument of Surrender for Japan's armed forces after Mamoru Shigemitsu.
Umezu was Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff when Japan surrendered. At the ceremony aboard USS Missouri on 2 September 1945, he signed after Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, representing Japan's military command. His signature acknowledged the surrender on behalf of the armed forces.
Umezu had opposed surrender during the final days of the war, but Emperor Hirohito's decision and the government's acceptance of the Allied terms ended the debate within the official command structure. The ceremony therefore displayed both the civilian and military sides of Japan's state signing the same document.
Umezu's name is sometimes confused with those of other Japanese commanders who surrendered forces in specific theaters. He was not signing for one regional army; he represented the Imperial Japanese military leadership at the national ceremony.
After the war, Umezu was tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and convicted of Class-A war crimes. He died in Sugamo Prison in January 1949.