Who was Japan’s second signatory on the Japanese Instrument of Surrender?

Yoshijiro Umezu was Japan’s second signatory on the Japanese Instrument of Surrender.

Umezu was Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff and signed on behalf of Japanese Imperial General Headquarters. He signed at 9:06 a.m. Japan Standard Time, two minutes after Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed for the Japanese government and Emperor.

His signature represented Japan’s military command, making the ceremony’s two Japanese signatures symbolically important. One came from the civilian government and one from the armed forces. Both were necessary to show that Japan’s national authorities accepted the Allied surrender terms.

Umezu had opposed surrender during some of the final cabinet debates, but he ultimately followed the Emperor’s decision. After the ceremony, he was arrested as a suspected war criminal and later died in Sugamo Prison in 1949. His role is often confused with that of Shigemitsu, who signed first as foreign minister.