Who was the first Japanese official to sign Japan’s 1945 surrender document?

Mamoru Shigemitsu was the first Japanese official to sign Japan’s 1945 surrender document.

Shigemitsu was Japan’s foreign minister and signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Emperor and the Japanese government. He signed at approximately 9:04 a.m. on September 2, 1945, during the ceremony aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

General Yoshijirō Umezu, chief of the Imperial General Staff, signed immediately afterward on behalf of Japanese Imperial General Headquarters. The distinction mattered because the surrender represented both the civilian government and Japan’s military command.

Shigemitsu attended the ceremony using a wooden leg after losing his right leg in an assassination attempt in 1932. He wore a formal morning coat and top hat, making him visually distinctive among the Japanese delegation. His signature preceded those of General Douglas MacArthur and the Allied representatives.