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Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (Japanese: 陸上自衛隊, Hepburn: Rikujō Jieitai), JGSDF (陸自, Rikuji), also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service branches.
New military guidelines, announced in December 2010, direct the Japan Self-Defense Forces away from their Cold War focus on the Soviet Union to a new focus on China, especially in respect of the dispute over the Senkaku Islands.
The JGSDF operates under the command of the chief of the ground staff, based in the city of Ichigaya, Shinjuku, Tokyo. The present chief of staff is General Yasunori Morishita. The JGSDF numbered 150,700 soldiers in 2023.
Soon after the end of the Pacific War in 1945 with Japan accepting the Potsdam Declaration, the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy were dismantled by the orders of Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP).[citation needed] Both were replaced by the United States Armed Forces occupation force, which assumed responsibility for the external defense of Japan.[citation needed]
Douglas MacArthur insisted that Japan have no military that could be used to settle international disputes or even for its own self defense. Accordingly, during the development of the Japan Constitution in 1946, Article 9 was added stating "the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes."[citation needed] "In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized." It is believed that the Special Diet Session leader Hitoshi Ashida added the clause "In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph" in the middle of Article 9.[citation needed] The intent of this phrasing was to allow for the creation of military forces in Japan which would be for the defense of Japan, and not for settling international disputes.[citation needed] Then Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida accepted this wording and was able to convince the US to allow Japan to operate "self defense" forces.[citation needed]
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. Only after the outbreak of the Korean War did MacArthur authorise Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida to establish a 75,000 strong National Police Reserve. The next expansion came in 1952, when as a compromise in the face of U.S. calls to build up an army of 350,000, the National Police Reserve was re-titled the National Safety Force and expanded to 110,000.
In 1954, Prime Minister Yoshida impelled the Diet to accept the Defence Agency Establishment and the Self-Defence Force Laws, which explicitly authorized the forces to "defend Japan against direct and indirect aggression, and when necessary to maintain public order." 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].
That year the actual strength of the Ground, Maritime and Air Self-Defence Forces reached 146,285, armed mainly with U.S. World War II vintage equipment. At least up until the 1970s, the Ground SDF was not built up to the point required to defeat an invasion attempt from the north – informed officials estimated that while ammunition provisions were officially said to be enough to last for two months, in actuality it would be used up in a week or less.
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Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (Japanese: 陸上自衛隊, Hepburn: Rikujō Jieitai), JGSDF (陸自, Rikuji), also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service branches.
New military guidelines, announced in December 2010, direct the Japan Self-Defense Forces away from their Cold War focus on the Soviet Union to a new focus on China, especially in respect of the dispute over the Senkaku Islands.
The JGSDF operates under the command of the chief of the ground staff, based in the city of Ichigaya, Shinjuku, Tokyo. The present chief of staff is General Yasunori Morishita. The JGSDF numbered 150,700 soldiers in 2023.
Soon after the end of the Pacific War in 1945 with Japan accepting the Potsdam Declaration, the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy were dismantled by the orders of Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP).[citation needed] Both were replaced by the United States Armed Forces occupation force, which assumed responsibility for the external defense of Japan.[citation needed]
Douglas MacArthur insisted that Japan have no military that could be used to settle international disputes or even for its own self defense. Accordingly, during the development of the Japan Constitution in 1946, Article 9 was added stating "the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes."[citation needed] "In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized." It is believed that the Special Diet Session leader Hitoshi Ashida added the clause "In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph" in the middle of Article 9.[citation needed] The intent of this phrasing was to allow for the creation of military forces in Japan which would be for the defense of Japan, and not for settling international disputes.[citation needed] Then Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida accepted this wording and was able to convince the US to allow Japan to operate "self defense" forces.[citation needed]
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. Only after the outbreak of the Korean War did MacArthur authorise Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida to establish a 75,000 strong National Police Reserve. The next expansion came in 1952, when as a compromise in the face of U.S. calls to build up an army of 350,000, the National Police Reserve was re-titled the National Safety Force and expanded to 110,000.
In 1954, Prime Minister Yoshida impelled the Diet to accept the Defence Agency Establishment and the Self-Defence Force Laws, which explicitly authorized the forces to "defend Japan against direct and indirect aggression, and when necessary to maintain public order." 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].
That year the actual strength of the Ground, Maritime and Air Self-Defence Forces reached 146,285, armed mainly with U.S. World War II vintage equipment. At least up until the 1970s, the Ground SDF was not built up to the point required to defeat an invasion attempt from the north – informed officials estimated that while ammunition provisions were officially said to be enough to last for two months, in actuality it would be used up in a week or less.