Who signed Japan’s Instrument of Surrender as its representative of the government?

Mamoru Shigemitsu signed Japan’s Instrument of Surrender as its representative of the government.

Shigemitsu was Japan’s foreign minister and signed the document aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945. He wore formal morning dress and used a cane, having lost a leg in an earlier assassination attempt.

General Yoshijirō Umezu also signed, but he represented Japan’s armed forces rather than the civilian government. This distinction is important because both men were the principal Japanese signatories at the ceremony.

General Douglas MacArthur signed first for the Allied powers. Other Allied representatives followed, including officials from the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. The document formally ended Japan’s participation in World War II.