Which Japanese military chief signed the surrender document after Mamoru Shigemitsu?

Yoshijiro Umezu signed the surrender document after Mamoru Shigemitsu.

Umezu was Chief of the Army General Staff and signed at 9:06 a.m. on September 2, 1945. His signature represented the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, the command structure responsible for Japan’s armed forces. Shigemitsu, Japan’s foreign minister, had signed two minutes earlier for the government.

The order of signatures reflected the Allies’ desire to show that both civilian and military authorities accepted the surrender. After the two Japanese signatures, Douglas MacArthur signed for the Allied powers, followed by representatives of the individual Allied nations.

Umezu had opposed surrender during the final days of the war but ultimately followed the emperor’s decision. He was later convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in prison in January 1949, before completing the sentence.