Who was Japan’s civilian representative and first Japanese signatory at the 1945 surrender ceremony?

Mamoru Shigemitsu was Japan’s civilian representative and first Japanese signatory at the 1945 surrender ceremony.

Shigemitsu signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri on 2 September 1945. He signed “by command and in behalf of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese Government,” representing the civilian government.

General Yoshijirō Umezu signed next on behalf of Japan’s Imperial General Headquarters. This distinction is important because the ceremony included both political and military authority; Shigemitsu represented the government, while Umezu represented the armed forces.

Shigemitsu had served as Japan’s foreign minister during the final weeks of the war. He later returned to the foreign-minister post in postwar Japan and participated in the country’s diplomatic reconstruction. He is sometimes confused with Umezu because both men signed for Japan, but Shigemitsu signed first.