Who signed Japan’s surrender instrument as Japan’s representative of the armed forces?

Yoshijirō Umezu signed Japan’s surrender instrument as the representative of its armed forces.

Umezu was chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff when Japan surrendered. He signed aboard USS Missouri immediately after Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, who represented the Japanese government.

The two Japanese signatures represented distinct authorities. Shigemitsu signed for the government, while Umezu signed for the military establishment that had directed much of Japan’s wartime strategy. Umezu had initially opposed surrender but ultimately followed Emperor Hirohito’s decision.

Umezu was later tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. He was convicted of conspiracy, waging aggressive war, and conventional war crimes, receiving a life sentence. He died in prison in 1949.