Yamazaki to Be Appointed Top SDF Officer

March 20, 2019

Tokyo- The Japanese government decided at a cabinet meeting Tuesday to appoint Ground Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Gen. Koji Yamazaki as chief of staff at the SDF Joint Staff under the Defense Ministry.

Yamazaki, 58, will replace Adm. Katsutoshi Kawano, 64, as the top uniformed officer in the SDF on April 1. Kawano will retire.

Lt. Gen. Goro Yuasa, 59, commanding general of the GDSF's Western Army, will assume Yamazaki's position.

Maritime SDF Chief of Staff Adm. Yutaka Murakawa, 61, will also retire. He will be succeeded by Hiroshi Yamamura, 57, currently the MSDF's vice chief of staff.

Kawano became the fifth chief of staff at the SDF Joint Staff in October 2014. He commanded the SDF's responses to North Korea's missile launches.

By extending his retirement three times, he became the longest-serving chief of the SDF's Joint Staff.

Yamazaki joined the GSDF in 1983. After serving as the SDF Joint Staff's vice chief of staff and commanding general of the Northern Army, he took up the current post as the GSDF's chief of staff in August 2017.

Yuasa, who joined the GSDF in 1984, filled various posts, including the GSDF's vice chief of staff, and went on to assume the head of the Western Army in August 2017.

After joining the MSDF in 1984, Yamamura took up the position of commander of the Fleet Escort Force and other posts. He became the MSDF's vice chief of staff in December 2016. Jiji Press