Japan Ground Self-Defense Force

For the Imperial Japanese Army (1871–1947), see Imperial Japanese Army. For the Ministry of the Military (Ritsuryō) (701–1871), see Ministry of the Military (Ritsuryō).
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
Founded July 1, 1954 – present
Country  Japan
Type Army
Size 150,000 active personnel
Part of Japan SDF
Garrison/HQ Ichigaya, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Nickname(s) GSDF
Website www.mod.go.jp/gsdf
Commanders
Commander-in-Chief PM Shinzō Abe
Minister of Defense Tomomi Inada
Chief of Staff Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano
(Maritime)
Chief of the Ground Staff General Toshiya Okabe

The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (陸上自衛隊 Rikujō Jieitai), or JGSDF, is the main branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the de facto army of Japan. The JGSDF was created on July 1, 1954. It is sometimes also referred to as the GSDF.

New military guidelines, announced in December 2010 will direct the Jieitai away from its Cold War focus on the Soviet Union to a focus on China, especially regarding the dispute over the Senkaku Islands. The largest of the three services of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force is tasked with maintaining internal security in Japan and operates under the command of the chief of the ground staff, based in the city of Ichigaya, Shinjuku, Tokyo. The present chief of the ground staff is General Kiyofumi Iwata (Japanese: 岩田 清文).

The JGSDF numbered around 150,000 soldiers in 2008.[1] As of 2010, the number remained the same at approximately 150,000 personnel.[2]

History

Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration in 1945, and, in compliance with Article 9, the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy were dismantled. Both were replaced by the United States Armed Forces occupation force, which assumed responsibility for the external defense of Japan.

On the outbreak of the Korean War, many U.S. units were transferred to Korea, and Japan was perceived as lacking defenses. Encouraged by the American occupation authorities, the Japanese government in July 1950 authorized the establishment of a National Police Reserve, consisting of 75,000 men equipped with light infantry weapons.[3]

Under the terms of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan, United States forces stationed in Japan were to deal with external aggression against Japan while Japanese forces, both ground and maritime, would deal with internal threats and natural disasters. Accordingly, in mid-1952, the National Police Reserve was expanded to 110,000 men and named the National Safety Forces.[4]

Japan continued to improve its defensive capabilities. On July 1, 1954, the National Security Board was reorganized as the Defense Agency, and the National Security Force was reorganized afterwards as the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (Army), the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (Navy) and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (Air force), with General Keizō Hayashi appointed as the first Chairman of Joint Staff Council—professional head of the three branches. The enabling legislation for this was the 1954 Self-Defense Forces Act [Act No. 165 of 1954].[5]

For a long period, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force possessed a dubious ability to hold off a Soviet invasion of Hokkaido. Zbigniew Brzezinski observed in 1972 that it seemed optimized to fight ‘a Soviet invasion conducted on American patterns of a quarter of a century ago.’[6] While the force is now an efficient army of around 150,000,[2] its apparent importance had, until recently, seemingly declined with the end of the Cold War, and attempts to reorient the forces as a whole to new post Cold War missions have been tangled in a series of internal political disputes.

Today

Personnel

JGSDF soldiers from the 22nd Infantry Regiment train with U.S. Army soldiers in a bilateral exercise at Fort Lewis' Leschi Town in October 2008.

In 1989, basic training for lower-secondary and upper-secondary academy graduates began in the training brigade and lasted approximately three months. Specialized enlisted and non-commissioned officer (NCO) candidate courses were available in branch schools and qualified NCOs could enter an eight-to-twelve-week officer candidate program. Senior NCOs and graduates of an eighty-week NCO pilot course were eligible to enter officer candidate schools, as were graduates of the National Defense Academy at Yokosuka and graduates of all four-year universities. Advanced technical, flight, medical and command and staff officer courses were also run by the JGSDF. Like the maritime and air forces, the JGSDF ran a youth cadet program offering technical training to lower-secondary school graduates below military age in return for a promise of enlistment.

Because of population density and urbanization on the Japanese islands, only limited areas are available for large-scale training, and, even in these areas, noise restrictions are extensive. The JGSDF has adapted to these conditions by conducting command post exercises, map manoeuvres, investing in simulators and other training programs, as well as conducting live fire exercises overseas at locations such as the Yakima Training Center in the United States.

The JGSDF has two reserve components: the rapid-reaction reserve component (即応予備自衛官制度) and the main reserve component (一般予備自衛官制度). Members of the rapid-reaction component train 30 days a year. Members of the main reserve train five days a year. As of December 2007, there were 8,425 members of the rapid-reaction reserve component and 22,404 members of the main reserve component.[7]

Equipment

Organization

Operational Structure of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force 2016. (Click to enlarge)

Armies

Disposition of JGSDF combat units

Other units

JGSDF Chief of Staff Eiji Kimizuka, speaks with a U.S. Marine officer aboard the USS Essex (LHD-2), in March 2011.
JGSDF Middle Army headquarters in Itami, Japan

Tactical organization

The GSDF consists of the following tactical units:

JGSDF divisions and brigades are combined arms units with infantry, armored, and artillery units, combat support units and logistical support units. They are regionally independent and permanent entities. The divisions strength varies from 6,000 to 9,000 personnel. The brigades are smaller with 3,000 to 4,000 personnel.

Special Forces

Special Forces units consist of the following:

Ranks

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
陸上自衛隊 (Rikujō Jieitai)


Command
Ground Staff Office
Components
Northern Army
North Eastern Army
Eastern Army
Central Army
Western Army
Central Readiness Force
JGSDF Reserve
JGSDF Reserve Candidate

Officers

Officer & Warrant Officer
（幹部・准尉）
InsigniaOF-9
General
（統合・陸上
幕僚長たる陸将）		OF-8
Lieutenant
General
（陸将）		OF-7
Major
General
（陸将補）		 OF-5
Colonel
（1等陸佐）		OF-4
Lieutenant
Colonel
（2等陸佐）		OF-3
Major
（3等陸佐）		 OF-2
Captain
（1等陸尉）		OF-1
First
Lieutenant
（2等陸尉）		OF-1
Second
Lieutenant
（3等陸尉）		OR-9
Warrant
Officer
（准陸尉）
Type A
（甲階級章）
Type B
（乙階級章）
Miniature
（略章）

Enlisted

Enlisted
（曹・士）
InsigniaOR-8
Sergeant
Major
（陸曹長）		OR-7
Master
Sergeant
（1等陸曹）		OR-6
Sergeant
First
Class
（2等陸曹）		OR-5
Sergeant
（3等陸曹）		OR-3
Leading
Private
（陸士長）		OR-2
Private
First
Class
（1等陸士）		OR-1
Private
（2等陸士）		OR-D
Self Defence
Official Cadet
（自衛官候補生）
Type A
（甲階級章）
Type B
（乙階級章）
Miniature
（略章）		 No insignia

See also

References

  1. ↑ IISS Military Balance 2008, Routledge, London, 2008, p.384
  2. 1 2 IISS 2010, pp. 408–411
  3. ↑ Encyclopedia Britannica, Self Defense Force, accessed February 2015.
  4. ↑ Frank Kowalski, An Inoffensive Rearmament: The Making of the Postwar Japanese Army, Naval Institute Press, 2014, p.72
  5. ↑ "Japan Self-Defense Force | Defending Japan". Defendingjapan.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2014-08-03.
  6. ↑ Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Fragile Blossom (Harper, 1972) p.95, in James H. Buck, ‘The Japanese Military in the 1980s,’ in James H. Buck (ed.), The Modern Japanese Military System, Sage Publications, Beverly Hills/London, 1975, p.220
  7. ↑ Archived March 9, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
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