Yoshijiro Umezu signed the surrender for Imperial General Headquarters in 1945.
Umezu was chief of Japan’s Imperial General Staff, the senior army command organization. He signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri after Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu had signed on behalf of the Emperor and the Japanese government.
The two Japanese signatures represented separate parts of the Japanese state: Shigemitsu represented the government, while Umezu represented Imperial General Headquarters. Their roles explain why both a civilian official and a senior military officer were required at the ceremony.
Umezu had served as a senior army commander during the war and had been appointed chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1944. He initially opposed surrender but ultimately signed after Japan’s leadership accepted the Allied terms. He should not be confused with General Tomoyuki Yamashita, who commanded Japanese forces in the Philippines and signed a separate surrender in September 1945.