Who signed Japan’s formal surrender first on behalf of the Japanese government in 1945?

Mamoru Shigemitsu signed Japan’s formal surrender first on behalf of the Japanese government in 1945.

Shigemitsu was Japan’s foreign minister when the surrender ceremony took place aboard USS Missouri on September 2. He signed the instrument at approximately 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 Yoshijiro Umezu, chief of the Army General Staff, signed next on behalf of Imperial General Headquarters. The distinction mattered because the document represented both the civilian government and Japan’s military command structure. Eleven Japanese delegates attended, but Shigemitsu and Umezu were the two official Japanese signatories.

Shigemitsu had previously served as a diplomat and had signed Japan’s Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy in 1940. After the war, he was convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East but later returned to political life. He served again as foreign minister in the 1950s.