Yoshijirō Umezu signed the surrender document after Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu in 1945.
Umezu was Chief of the Army General Staff and represented the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters at the ceremony. He signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on September 2, 1945, aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Shigemitsu signed first on behalf of the Japanese government and Emperor. Umezu then signed on behalf of the armed forces, following the wording and authority specified for the ceremony. His signature represented Japan’s military command rather than the civilian cabinet alone.
Umezu had opposed surrender during the internal Japanese debates in August 1945, but Emperor Hirohito ordered him to sign. He is sometimes confused with Army Minister Korechika Anami or Navy General Staff chief Soemu Toyoda, neither of whom signed the formal document.