Yoshijirō Umezu signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender for Imperial General Headquarters.
Umezu signed at 9:06 a.m. on September 2, 1945, two minutes after Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu had signed for the Japanese government. His signature represented Imperial General Headquarters, the wartime command structure directing Japan's armed forces.
Umezu was Chief of the Army General Staff and one of the two Japanese officials authorized to sign the instrument. The surrender delegation included nine other Japanese officials, but only Shigemitsu and Umezu signed the document.
This distinction matters because Japan's civil government and military command were represented separately. Umezu was not the same person as General Douglas MacArthur, who accepted the surrender for the Allied powers, or Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, who signed for the United States.