Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
陸上自衛隊
Emblem of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
Founded	1 July 1954; 64 years ago (1954-07-01)[1]
Country	Japan
Type	Army
Role	Land warfare
Size	150,000 active personnel
Part of	Japan Self-Defense Forces
Garrison/HQ	Ichigaya, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Colours	Red, White and Gold
March	Review March (分列行進曲) Play (help·info)
Website	www.mod.go.jp/gsdf
Commanders
Commander-in-Chief	PM Shinzō Abe
Minister of Defense	Takeshi Iwaya
Chief of Staff, Joint Staff	Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano
Chief of the Ground Staff	General Kōji Yamazaki

The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (陸上自衛隊, Rikujō Jieitai), JGSDF, also referred to as the Japanese army,^[2] is the land-warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the de facto army of Japan. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three services of the Japan Self-Defense Forces.

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 is chiefly tasked with maintaining internal security in Japan.

Th 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 Koji Yamazaki (Japanese: 山崎 幸二). The JGSDF numbered around 150,000 soldiers in 2008.^[3]

History[edit]

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.

Despite MacArthur and the SCAP's strict insistence on Japan having no military or self defence by constitution, Japanese prime minister Hitoshi Ashida amended article 9 of the constitution to allow the creation of military forces in Japan which would operate under the name of self-defence forces. Which the ground, naval and air self defence forces all originate from. Rendering the occupations desire for a demilitarised Japan rather moot.^[4]

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.^[5]

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].^[1]

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,^[7] 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.

On March 27, 2004, the Japan Defense Agency activated the Special Operations Group with the mandate under the JGSDF as its Counter-terrorist unit.^[8]

In 2015, the Japanese Diet passes a law that allowed for the reinterpretation of Article 9 of the constitution. JSDF personnel train with the American forces in amphibious assault units designed to take outlying islands.^[9]

Japan activated its first marine unit since World War Two on April 7, 2018. The marines of the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade are trained to counter invaders from occupying Japanese islands along the edge of the East China Sea.^[10]

Current deployment[edit]

Personnel[edit]

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.

JGSDF soldiers and U.S. soldiers participate in the Orient Shield 2017 opening ceremony at Camp Shin Yokotsuka, Sept. 11, 2017.

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.^[11]

Equipment[edit]

• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Type 10 Main Battle Tank
  

  
  

  
  


• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Type 90 Main Battle Tank
  

  
  

  
  


• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Type 16 Maneuver Combat Vehicle
  

  
  

  
  


• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Type 87 Self-propelled Anti-aircraft Gun
  

  
  

  
  


• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Type 96 Armored Personnel Carrier
  

  
  

  
  


• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Type 89 Infantry Fighting Vehicle
  

  
  

  
  


• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Type 87 Armoured Recon and Patrol Vehicle
  

  
  

  
  


• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  JGSDF AH-64D & AH-1S
  

  
  

  
  


• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Type 99 155 mm self-propelled howitzer
  

  
  

  
  


• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Type 12 Surface-to-Ship Missile
  

  
  

  
  

Organisation[edit]

Parts of this article (those related to documentation) need to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (April 2018)

Major Command[edit]

• Ground Component Command (陸上総隊, Rikujō-Sōtai) is headquartered in Asaka, Saitama Prefecture. It was reorganized from the Central Readiness Force on March 27, 2018. In wartime, it would take command of two to five armies.

Armies[edit]

Disposition of JGSDF combat units

• 
  Northern Army, headquartered in Sapporo, Hokkaido
  


• 
  North Eastern Army, headquartered in Sendai, Miyagi
  


• 
  Eastern Army, headquartered in Nerima, Tokyo
  


• 
  Central Army, headquartered in Itami, Hyōgo
  


• 
  Western Army, headquartered at Kumamoto, Kumamoto
  

Division[edit]

JGSDF currently has nine active duty divisions (1 armored, 8 infantry)

• 
  1st Division, in Nerima.


• 
  2nd Division, in Asahikawa.


• 
  3rd Division, in Itami.


• 
  4th Division, in Kasuga.


• 
  6th Division, in Higashine.


• 
  7th Division (7th Armored division), in Chitose.


• 
  8th Division, in Kumamoto.


• 
  9th Division, in Aomori.


• 
  10th Division, in Nagoya.

Brigade[edit]

JGSDF currently has 7 active brigades and one partially formed amphibious brigade

• 
  1st Airborne Brigade, at Camp Narashino in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture
  


• 
  1st Artillery Brigade, at Camp Kita Chitose in Chitose, Hokkaido Prefecture
  


• 
  1st Helicopter Brigade, at Camp Kisarazu in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture
  


• 
  5th Brigade, at Camp Obihiro in Obihiro, responsible for the defense of North Eastern Hokkaidō


• 
  11th Brigade, at Camp Makomanai in Sapporo, responsible for the defense of South Western Hokkaidō


• 
  12th Brigade (Air Assault), at Camp Soumagahara in Shintō, responsible for the defense of Gunma, Nagano, Niigata and Tochigi prefectures.


• 
  13th Brigade, in Kaita, responsible for the defense of the Chūgoku region.


• 
  14th Brigade, in Zentsūji, responsible for the defense of Shikoku.


• 
  15th Brigade, in Naha, responsible for the defense of Okinawa Prefecture
  


• Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade

Other units[edit]

• Other Units and Organizations
  
  
  
  • Material Control Command
  
  
  • Ground Research & Development Command
  
  
  • Signal Brigade
  
  
  • Military Police
  
  
  • Military Intelligence Command
  
  
  • Intelligence Security Command
  
  
  • Ground Staff College
  
  
  • Ground Officer Candidate School
  
  
  • Special Forces Group
  
  
  • Others
  
  
  
  

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

JGSDF Central Army headquarters in Itami, Japan

Tactical organization[edit]

The GSDF consists of the following tactical units:

• one armored division (7th),


• eight infantry divisions, each with three battalion-sized infantry regiments,


• six infantry brigades (5th Brigade, 11th Brigade, 12th Brigade, 13th Brigade, 14th Brigade, and 15th Brigade)


• one airborne brigade (1st Airborne Brigade),


• five combined (training) brigades,


• one artillery brigade,


• two air defense brigades,


• four engineer brigades,


• one helicopter brigade with twenty-four squadrons and two anti-tank helicopter platoons.

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.

Ranks[edit]

Officers（幹部）[edit]

Insignia	OF-9 General 統合幕僚長 および 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
Type A （甲階級章）
Type B （乙階級章）
Miniature （略章）

Warrant Officer & Enlisted（准尉および曹士）[edit]

Insignia	OR-9 Warrant Officer 准陸尉	OR-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[edit]

• Japan Self-Defense Forces


• Japanese Iraq Reconstruction and Support Group


• Military ranks and insignia of the Japan Self-Defense Forces


• Ministry of Defense (Japan)


• 
  Maritime Operational Transport concept (Japan)


• List of modern equipment of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.

• 
  Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (in Japanese)
  


• Japan


• Globalsecurity.org JGSDF section


• Number of Tanks and Major Artillery and Performance Specifications


• Number of Major Aircraft and Performance Specifications


• Guided Missile Specifications


• military-today.com