Which Japanese general signed the surrender for Japan’s armed forces aboard USS Missouri?

General Yoshijirō Umezu signed the surrender instrument for Japan’s armed forces aboard USS Missouri. He signed during the formal ceremony on September 2, 1945.

Umezu was chief of the Army General Staff, Japan’s highest army staff position. His signature was required alongside that of Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, who signed for the Japanese government. The arrangement made clear that both Japan’s civilian authorities and military command accepted the surrender terms.

Umezu initially opposed surrender and was among the senior military leaders who favored continuing the war. He eventually followed Emperor Hirohito’s decision. At the ceremony, Umezu signed after Shigemitsu and used the document’s military section to represent Japan’s armed forces.

After the war, Umezu was tried before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. He was convicted of several counts of aggression and war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in prison in 1949, before completing the sentence.