Yoshijiro Umezu signed Japan’s 1945 surrender after Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu.
Umezu was chief of the Army General Staff and signed on behalf of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters. His signature followed Shigemitsu’s, representing Japan’s military command in the formal capitulation.
The two Japanese signatories were chosen to represent different parts of the state. Shigemitsu signed for the Emperor and government, while Umezu signed for the armed forces. Both signed at the ceremony aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.
Umezu had opposed surrender during the imperial conference that preceded the decision, but he ultimately signed the document after Emperor Hirohito ordered Japan to accept the Allied terms. He remained in custody after the war and died in prison in 1949.