Who signed Japan’s surrender document for the Japanese government in 1945?

Mamoru Shigemitsu signed Japan’s surrender document for the Japanese government in 1945.

Shigemitsu was Japan’s foreign minister when the Instrument of Surrender was signed aboard USS Missouri on September 2. He wore a formal morning coat and used a cane, having lost a leg in an assassination attempt in 1932. As the civilian representative of the Japanese government, he signed before the Japanese military representative.

General Yoshijiro Umezu, chief of the Imperial General Staff, signed immediately after Shigemitsu. Their separate signatures reflected the structure of the Japanese state: one represented the government and the other represented the armed forces. Both signed two copies of the instrument, one for Allied custody and one for Japan.

Shigemitsu had also represented Japan at earlier international negotiations, including the surrender of Japanese forces in Singapore in 1945. His role at Missouri is sometimes confused with Umezu’s, but the order and capacity of their signatures were distinct.