Mamoru Shigemitsu

Mamoru Shigemitsu was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs three times during and after World War II and as the Deputy Prime Minister of Japan. He was also one of the signers of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on board the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945, which ended the war in the Pacific. Shigemitsu was born in 1887 in what is now part of the city of Bungo-ōno, Ōita Prefecture, Japan. He graduated from the Law School of Tokyo Imperial University in 1911 and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served in various overseas diplomatic posts, including Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. He was also involved in negotiating several treaties and agreements with China and the Western powers. In 1932, he lost his right leg in a bomb attack by a Korean independence activist in Shanghai. He later became Japan's ambassador to the United Kingdom and tried to prevent the outbreak of war between the two countries. However, he was recalled in 1941 after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. He then served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Hideki Tojo from 1943 to 1945. He advocated for a peaceful resolution of the war and tried to establish contact with the Allies through various channels. He was also one of the few members of the cabinet who supported accepting the Potsdam Declaration, which demanded Japan's unconditional surrender. After Tojo's resignation, he was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs again under Prime Minister Naruhiko Higashikuni. He was the chief representative of the Japanese government in the surrender ceremony on the USS Missouri. He signed the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Emperor and the Japanese people. After the war, he was arrested and tried as a war criminal by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. He was found guilty of waging aggressive war against China and sentenced to seven years in prison. He was released in 1950 and returned to politics. He became the leader of the Progressive Party and later joined the Liberal Democratic Party. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the third time under Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama from 1954 to 1956. He also became the Deputy Prime Minister of Japan in 1954. He played a key role in restoring Japan's diplomatic relations with other countries and promoting its economic recovery. He also supported Japan's admission to the United Nations and the revision of the US-Japan Security Treaty. He died in 1957 of cholecystitis at the age of 69. He was posthumously awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, the highest honor in Japan. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and respected diplomats in Japanese history.