Who signed Japan’s World War II surrender as its foreign minister?

Mamoru Shigemitsu signed Japan’s World War II surrender as its foreign minister.

Shigemitsu was one of two Japanese representatives who signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945. He signed for the Japanese government, while General Yoshijiro Umezu signed for Japan’s armed forces.

Shigemitsu had previously served as Japan’s foreign minister during the final phase of the war. At the ceremony, he wore formal diplomatic attire and used a walking stick because of a wartime injury. His signature appeared near the beginning of the Japanese section of the document.

The surrender ceremony included eleven Japanese delegates, but only Shigemitsu and Umezu signed the instrument. The distinction matters because other senior officials attended or influenced the surrender without being signatories. General Douglas MacArthur signed the document for the Allied powers, followed by representatives of the United States and other Allied governments.