Which Japanese official signed the 1945 surrender instrument for the Japanese government?

Mamoru Shigemitsu signed the 1945 surrender instrument for the Japanese government.

Shigemitsu was Japan’s foreign minister and represented the civilian government at the ceremony aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. He signed at about 9:04 a.m., using wording that stated he acted by command and on behalf of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government.

General Yoshijirō Umezu signed immediately afterward for Imperial General Headquarters, representing Japan’s armed forces. The distinction matters: Shigemitsu’s signature represented the government, while Umezu’s represented the military command. Together, the signatures showed that both the political and military authorities accepted the Allied terms.

Shigemitsu’s wooden leg was visible in photographs from the ceremony; he had lost the limb after being wounded in an assassination attempt in Shanghai in 1932. He later became foreign minister again in postwar Japan. His signature was not the same event as Hirohito’s radio announcement, which had informed the Japanese public more than two weeks earlier.