Who signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender for the Japanese government?

Mamoru Shigemitsu signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender for the Japanese government. He was Japan’s foreign minister and signed the document aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.

Shigemitsu signed using wording stating that he acted by command and on behalf of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government. His role represented the civilian government in the formal surrender ceremony.

A second Japanese signatory, General Yoshijirō Umezu, signed on behalf of Japan’s Imperial General Headquarters. The distinction mattered because the surrender document represented both the government and the military command structure.

Shigemitsu had previously served as Japan’s ambassador to the United Kingdom and had been involved in diplomacy before and during the war. He later returned to government service in postwar Japan. He is sometimes confused with Shigenori Tōgō, another wartime foreign minister, but Tōgō did not sign the surrender document.