Who signed Japan’s 1945 surrender instrument for the Imperial Japanese armed forces?

Yoshijiro Umezu signed Japan’s 1945 surrender instrument for the Imperial Japanese armed forces.

Umezu was the Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, the Army’s senior representative at the September 2, 1945, ceremony aboard USS Missouri. He signed on behalf of Japan’s Imperial General Headquarters after Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu had signed for the Japanese government.

Umezu had opposed surrender during the final weeks of the war, arguing that Japan should continue fighting rather than accept the Allied terms. Emperor Hirohito personally ordered him to sign the surrender document, making his participation especially significant.

Umezu is sometimes confused with Korechika Anami, the Army minister who opposed surrender and died shortly afterward, or with Soemu Toyoda, the Navy’s senior wartime staff officer. Umezu later faced prosecution at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and received a life sentence.