Who signed Japan’s military surrender on behalf of the Imperial Japanese Army in 1945?

General Yoshijirō Umezu signed Japan’s military surrender on behalf of the Imperial Japanese Army on September 2, 1945. He placed his signature on the Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri after Mamoru Shigemitsu signed for the Japanese government.

Umezu was chief of the Army General Staff, making him the senior representative of Japan’s armed forces at the ceremony. He had opposed surrender during the final debates but obeyed the emperor’s decision once it was made. His signature acknowledged the capitulation of Japan’s military forces to the Allies.

Umezu later stood trial before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. He was convicted of conspiracy and waging aggressive war and died in prison in 1949. His role is distinct from battlefield commanders such as Tomoyuki Yamashita, who surrendered separate Japanese forces in the Philippines.