Minister of Defense (Japan)
The Minister of Defense, or Bōei-shō, is the Cabinet of Japan member in charge of the Ministry of Defense, known as the Defense Agency before 2007. The current Japanese Minister of Defense is Takeshi Iwaya. On 26 December 2007, the government of Japan made the decision to upgrade its Defense Agency to the Ministry of Defense in the expectation to have a far-reaching effect on Japan's future military development; the defense policy, pursued by Japan is based on the "Basic Policy for National Defense", adopted by the Cabinet in May 1957. Japan's main goal of national defense is the prevention of indirect as well as direct aggression from outside enemies; the Japanese government made the upgrade from the Defense Agency to the Ministry of Defense with a ceremony, attended by Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and the then-new Minister of Defense Fumio Kyuma. The creation of the Ministry of Defense was in conjunction with Prime Minister Abe's continued efforts to ensure a stronger image of the Japan Self-Defense Forces.
The bill in which to upgrade the Defense Agency to the Ministry of Defense was approved by the House of Representatives in November 2007, the House of Councillors in mid-December 2007. In light of the Defense Agency being transformed into the Ministry of Defense, the JSDF was given the responsibilities of international operations, disaster relief and peacekeeping within the overseas locations. 1. Prime Minister 2. Minister of Defense 3. Chief of Staff, Joint Staff 4. Chief of Staff of the JGSDF 4. Chief of Staff of the JMSDF 4. Chief of Staff of the JASDF The Commander-in-Chief of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, who does not formally constitute a uniformed military, is the Prime Minister; the Emperor of Japan is a constitutional monarch who does not have political or military authority over the JSDF. However, it is important to note; the Minister of Defense is responsible for the organization and formulating the national security policy. The budget request is drafted by the Ministry of Finance and making its own legislative proposals to the National Diet.
The Minister of Defense is advised on every concern related to the duties of the Japan Self-Defense Forces by the Chief of Staff, Joint Staff. LDP DPJ Independent “Library of Congress Country Studies”. JAPAN, The Defense Agency.. Retrieved 18 July 2010. Zhongguo, T. LexusNexis Academic, Japan’s upgrade of Defense Agency paves way to military power – HK-based agency. Retrieved 16 July 2010. “Library of Congress Country Studies”. JAPAN, The Defense Industry.. Retrieved 18 July 2010. Chinadaily.com.cn LexusNexus Academic, Defense Agency upgraded to Ministry. Retrieved 16 July 2010
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism incorporates the practice, military tactics and strategy that government, law enforcement and intelligence agencies use to combat or prevent terrorism. Counter-terrorism strategies include attempts to counter financing of terrorism. If terrorism is part of a broader insurgency, counter-terrorism may employ counter-insurgency measures; the United States Armed Forces use the term foreign internal defense for programs that support other countries in attempts to suppress insurgency, lawlessness, or subversion or to reduce the conditions under which these threats to security may develop. In response to the escalating terror campaign in Britain carried out by the militant Irish Fenians in the 1880s, the Home Secretary, Sir William Harcourt, established the first counter-terrorism unit ever; the Special Irish Branch was formed as a section of the Criminal Investigation Department of the London Metropolitan Police in 1883, to combat Irish republican terrorism through infiltration and subversion.
Harcourt envisioned a permanent unit dedicated to the prevention of politically motivated violence through the use of modern techniques such as undercover infiltration. This pioneering branch was the first to be trained in counter-terrorism techniques, its name was changed to Special Branch as it had its remit expanded to incorporate a general role in counterterrorism, combating foreign subversion and infiltrating organized crime. Law enforcement agencies, in Britain and elsewhere, established similar units. Counterterrorism forces expanded with the perceived growing threat of terrorism in the late 20th century. After the September 11 attacks, Western governments made counter-terrorism efforts a priority, including more foreign cooperation, shifting tactics involving red teams and preventive measures. Although sensational attacks in the developed world receive a great deal of media attention, most terrorism occurs in less developed countries. Government responses to terrorism in some cases generate substantial unintended consequences.
Most counter-terrorism strategies involve an increase in domestic intelligence. The central activities are traditional: interception of communications, the tracing of persons. New technology has, expanded the range of military and law enforcement operations. Domestic intelligence is directed at specific groups, defined on the basis of origin or religion, a source of political controversy. Mass surveillance of an entire population raises objections on civil liberties grounds. Homegrown terrorists lone wolves are harder to detect because of their citizenship or legal status and ability to stay under the radar. To select the effective action when terrorism appears to be more of an isolated event, the appropriate government organizations need to understand the source, methods of preparation, tactics of terrorist groups. Good intelligence is at the heart of such preparation, as well as political and social understanding of any grievances that might be solved. Ideally, one gets information from inside the group, a difficult challenge for HUMINT because operational terrorist cells are small, with all members known to one another even related.
Counterintelligence is a great challenge with the security of cell-based systems, since the ideal, but nearly impossible, goal is to obtain a clandestine source within the cell. Financial tracking can play a role, as can communications intercept, but both of these approaches need to be balanced against legitimate expectations of privacy. In response to the growing legislation. United KingdomThe United Kingdom has had anti-terrorism legislation in place for more than thirty years; the Prevention of Violence Act 1939 was brought in response to an Irish Republican Army campaign of violence under the S-Plan. This act had been allowed to expire in 1953 and was repealed in 1973 to be replaced by the Prevention of Terrorism Acts a response to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. From 1974 to 1989 the temporary provisions of the act were renewed annually. In 2000 the Acts were replaced with the more permanent Terrorism Act 2000, which contained many of their powers, the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005.
The Anti-terrorism and Security Act 2001 was formally introduced into the Parliament November 19, 2001 two months after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. It received royal assent and went into force on December 13, 2001. On December 16, 2004 the Law Lords ruled that Part 4 was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, but under the terms of the Human Rights Act 1998 it remained in force; the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 was drafted to answer the Law Lords ruling and the Terrorism Act 2006 creates new offences related to terrorism, amends existing ones. The Act was drafted in the aftermath of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, like its predecessors some of its terms have proven to be controversial. Since 1978 the UK's terrorism laws have been reviewed by a security-cleared Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, whose influential reports are submitted to Parliament and published in full. United StatesU. S. Legal issues surrounding this issue include rulings on the domestic employment of deadly force by law enforcement organizations.
Search and seizure is governed by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The U. S. passed the USA PATRIOT Act after the September 11 attacks, as well as a range of other legislation and executive orders relating to national security. The Department of Homeland Security was established to consolidate domestic security agencies to coordinate anti-terrorism, as well as national response to major natural d
Keizō Hayashi
Keizō Hayashi was a Japanese civil servant, general officer and the first Chairman of Joint Staff Council, a post equivalent to Chief of the General Staff in other countries, from 1954 to 1964. He was instrumental in founding the post-war Japan Self-Defense Forces in 1954. Hayashi began his civil service career in the Home Ministry in 1929. In post-war Japan, he became Governor of Tottori Prefecture from 1945 to 1947 and Director of the Bureau of Local Affairs from 1947 until the Home Ministry was disbanded in the same year. After that, he was appointed Vice-Minister of Imperial Household from 1948 to 1950, during which he became a confidant of Emperor Showa. After the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, who did not have prewar military background, was chosen by Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, with the endorsement of the American occupation authority, to head the newly formed National Police Reserve in the capacity as Superintendent-General. Since Japan had been demilitarized after the Second World War, one of his major tasks was to build up the NPR as the foundation of Japan's self-defense power in post-war era.
He was responsible for developing a new mind-set for the NPR so as to adapt to post-war changes. When the NPR was restructured as the National Safety Force in 1952, he was appointed Chief of the 1st Staff of the First Staff Office, the top decision making body of the NSF. Hayashi helped found the JSC and the JSDF after Japan regained its status as a sovereign state under the Treaty of San Francisco in 1954; as Chairman of JSC, he assisted the Director-General of Japanese Defense Agency in formulating defense plans, reviewing proposals as submitted by the JSDF, carrying out defense-related intelligence and investigation work, as well as fostering closer military ties with the United States and its allies. Having served in the JSC for ten years, he was not only the longest-serving Chairman, but was the only Chairman with civilian civil service background. In retirement, he took an active part in public affairs, serving as, among others, President of the Japan Housing Corporation from 1965 to 1971, of the Japanese Red Cross from 1978 to 1987, of the Japan Good Deeds Association from 1983 to 1990.
Keizō Hayashi was born on 8 January 1907 in Ishikawa Prefecture in the Chūbu region of Japan, with family's koseki registered in Tokyo Prefecture. He was the eldest son of Lieutenant-General Yasakichi Hayashi of the Imperial Japanese Army and Teruko Hayashi, he had an older sister, the wife of Kyoshiro Ando, former Governor of Kyoto Prefecture, two younger sisters and Misako. Instead of joining the army like his father, he studied law in Tokyo Imperial University, he passed the Higher Civil Service Examinations in 1928 and graduated from the law school of the University with a Bachelor of Arts degree the following year. Upon graduation, Hayashi entered the Home Ministry and was posted to the Toyama Prefectural Office as a junior civilian official in 1929, he was promoted to head of the Social Welfare Section of Kyoto Prefecture in 1932 and of Kanagawa Prefecture in 1935. After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, he was posted to the Cabinet Planning Board in March 1941 and he became chief of Section One under Division One of the Board in 1942.
In 1943, he was additionally appointed staff officer of the Cabinet and of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau. At the stage of the war, he held a number of offices in 1944 successively, including inspector of the Home Ministry, as well as head of the General Affairs Section and of the Administration Section under the Bureau of Local Affairs of the Home Ministry. In 1945, Hayashi was appointed personal secretary to the Minister of Home Affairs as well as head of the Personnel Section of the Ministry. Shortly after the unconditional surrender of Japan to the Allied Powers in August 1945, he was chosen as Governor of Tottori Prefecture at the age of 38, assuming the office on 27 October, thus becoming the youngest local chief in the history of the Prefecture. However, his tenure was cut short in February 1947 when he became Director of the Bureau of Local Affairs, it was the last post he held in the Home Ministry, disbanded by the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers in December 1947. As a transitional arrangement decided in a Cabinet meeting, he was appointed Director of the temporarily established Office of Domestic Affairs in January 1948.
The Office was in existence for around 90 days only, during which he was responsible for overseeing the law enforcement services managed by the now-defunct Home Ministry, until the Office was replaced by the National Public Safety Commission. While the Japanese constitution was being redrafted and the Japanese war criminals were under trial, there were a number of unusual senior staff changes in the Imperial Household Office between June and August 1948. In particular, two key imperial household officials in the early post-war period, Ogane Masujiro, the Grand Chamberlain, Susumu Katō, Vice-Minister of Imperial Household, relinquished their offices. In the reshuffle, Hayashi succeeded Katō on 2 August 1948. By the time when he left the post in 1950, he had become a confidant of Emperor Showa, making him one of the few people who had the privilege to see and talk to the Emperor. After the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, there was a vacuum of defense in Japan as the United States redeployed much of its troops from Japan to the Korean Peninsula.
Against this background, the GHQ started to formulate plans to allow Japan rearm itself by setting up the National Police R
Army
An army or land force is a fighting force that fights on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or state, it may include aviation assets by possessing an army aviation component. In certain states, the term army refers to the entire armed forces. Within a national military force, the word army may mean a field army. In several countries, the army is called the Land Army to differentiate it from an air force called the Air Army, notably France. In such countries, the word "army" on its own retains its connotation of a land force in common usage; the current largest army in the world, by number of active troops, is the People's Liberation Army Ground Force of China with 1,600,000 active troops and 510,000 reserve personnel followed by the Indian Army with 1,129,000 active troops and 960,000 reserve personnel. By convention, irregular military is understood in contrast to regular armies which grew from personal bodyguards or elite militia.
Regular in this case refers to standardized doctrines, organizations, etc. Regular military can refer to full-time status, versus reserve or part-time personnel. Other distinctions may separate statutory forces, from de facto "non-statutory" forces such as some guerrilla and revolutionary armies. Armies may be expeditionary or fencible India's armies were among the first in the world; the first recorded battle, the Battle of the Ten Kings, happened when an Hindu Aryan king named Sudas defeated an alliance of ten kings and their supportive chieftains. During the Iron Age, the Maurya and Nanda Empires had the largest armies in the world, the peak being over 600,000 Infantry, 30,000 Cavalry, 8,000 War-Chariots and 9,000 War Elephants not including tributary state allies. In the Gupta age, large armies of longbowmen were recruited to fight off invading horse archer armies. Elephants and cavalry were other featured troops. In Rajput times, the main piece of equipment was iron or chain-mail armour, a round shield, either a curved blade or a straight-sword, a chakra disc and a katar dagger.
The states of China raised armies for at least 1000 years before the Autumn Annals. By the Warring States period, the crossbow had been perfected enough to become a military secret, with bronze bolts which could pierce any armor, thus any political power of a state rested on their organization. China underwent political consolidation of the states of Han, Chu, Zhao and Qi, until by 221 BCE, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin dynasty, attained absolute power; this first emperor of China could command the creation of a Terracotta Army to guard his tomb in the city of Xi'an, as well as a realignment of the Great Wall of China to strengthen his empire against insurrection and incursion. Sun Tzu's The Art of War remains one of China's Seven Military Classics though it is two thousand years old. Since no political figure could exist without an army, measures were taken to ensure only the most capable leaders could control the armies. Civil bureaucracies arose to control the productive power of the states, their military power.
The Spartan Army was one of the earliest known professional armies. Boys were sent to a barracks at the age of eight to train for becoming a soldier. At the age of thirty they were allowed to marry and have a family. After that, men devoted their lives to war until their retirement at the age of 60. Unlike other civilizations, whose armies had to disband during the planting and harvest seasons, the Spartan serfs or helots, did the manual labor; this allowed the Spartans to field a full-time army with a campaign season. The Spartan Army was composed of hoplites, equipped with arms and armor nearly identical to each other; each hoplite bore a scarlet uniform. The main pieces of this armor were a spear and a helmet; the Roman Army had its origins in the citizen army of the Republic, staffed by citizens serving mandatory duty for Rome. Reforms turned the army into a professional organization, still filled by citizens, but these citizens served continuously for 25 years before being discharged; the Romans were noted for making use of auxiliary troops, non-Romans who served with the legions and filled roles that the traditional Roman military could not fill such as light skirmish troops and heavy cavalry.
After their service in the army they were made citizens of Rome and their children were citizens also. They were given land and money to settle in Rome. In the Late Roman Empire, these auxiliary troops, along with foreign mercenaries, became the core of the Roman Army. In the earliest Middle Ages it was the obligation of every aristocrat to respond to the call to battle with his own equipment and infantry; this decentralized system was necessary due to the social order of the time, but could lead to motley forces with variable training and abilities. The more resources the noble had access to, the better his troops would be; the words "knight" and "noble" were used interchangeably as there was not a distinction between them. While the nobility did fight upon horseback, they were supported by lower class citizens –
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, JGSDF referred to as the Japanese Army, 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 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 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, Tokyo. The present chief of staff is General Gorō Yuasa; the JGSDF numbered around 150,000 soldiers in 2008. 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 and air self defence forces all originate from. Rendering the occupations desire for a demilitarised Japan rather moot. 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. Japan continued to improve its defensive capabilities. On July 1, 1954, the National Security Board was reorganized as the Defense Agency, the National Security Force was reorganized afterwards as the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Japan Air Self-Defense 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.
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. While the force is now an efficient army of around 150,000, its apparent importance had, until seemingly declined with the end of the Cold War, 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. 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. Japan activated its first marine unit since World War II 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.
In 1989, basic training for lower-secondary and upper-secondary academy graduates began in the training brigade and lasted three months. Specialized enlisted and non-commissioned officer 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 and command and staff officer courses were 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, 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 and the main reserve component. 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. Ground Component Command is headquartered in 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. 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 JGSDF has 9 active duty divisions 1st Division, in Nerima. 2nd Division, in Asahikawa. 3rd Division, in Itami. 4th Division, in Kasuga. 6th Division, in Higashine. 7th Division (7th Armored d
Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade (Japan)
The Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade is a marine unit of the Japan Self-Defense Forces responsible for conducting amphibious operations. It incorporates the former Western Army Infantry Regiment, the dedicated amphibious warfare unit of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force; the ARDB is based at Camp Ainoura in Nagasaki Prefecture. In light of tensions over the Senkaku Islands and the decision for putting the Chinese Coast Guard under military control, Japan started the process of creating an elite marine unit; this brigade was designed to conduct amphibious operations and to recover any Japanese islands taken by an adversary. In 2006, Japan devised a plan to respond to this threat as outlined in the Defense Programs and Budget of Japan, thus Japan prepared an amphibious force with the necessary know-how, acquired amphibious and other vehicles for such warfare. Prior to this, training was conducted with the U. S. Marine Corps such as "Iron Fist" and the integrated exercise "Dawn Blitz" in which the JSDF participated.
In the Rim of the Pacific Exercise of 2014, the Japan Ground Self Defense Force participated for the first time with amphibious warfare training between the U. S. Marine Corps and the GSDF for multilateral exercises. In Japan, joint exercises are conducted by inviting the U. S. Marine Corps at JGSDF Camp Soumagahara and training with the dispatch of GSDF members to the U. S. Marine Corps in Okinawa Prefecture. In 2016, 300 WAIR soldiers were sent to Camp Pendleton for marine training, they were trained to prepare for the ARDB's establishment. On 7 April 2018, Japan activated its first marine unit since World War II; the marines of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade, gathered at a ceremony activating the brigade at JGSDF's Camp Ainoura in Sasebo, on the southwest island of Kyushu, Japan. The Brigade is trained to counter invaders from occupying Japanese islands along the edge of the East China Sea that Tokyo considers vulnerable to attack.150 ARDB soldiers were deployed for the first time in an overseas training exercise with American and Filipino marines in Operation Kamandag in October 2018.
The ARDB suffered its first casualty when a 38-year old JGSDF soldier, Suguru Maehara, with the rank of Sergeant 1st Class, was killed in a vehicular accident after the vehicle he was in collided with another vehicle in Subic Bay. The ARDB is composed of the following: Brigade HQ Combat Landing Battalion Artillery Battalion Reconnaissance Battalion Engineer Battalion Signal Company Logistic Support Battalion 1st Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment 2nd Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment 3rd Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment Amphibious Rapid Deployment Training Unit ARDB forces are equipped with light infantry weapons, including: Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle Middle range Multi-Purpose missileHirtenberger M6C-210 Light mortar L16 81mm mortar Medium mortar M120 RT Heavy mortarMinimi 5.56mm Light Machine guns Howa Type 89 Assault rifles M24 SWS Sniper Rifles Minebea PM-9 Machine pistol ARDB are equipped with US and Japanese-made military vehicles and aircraft such as: Assault Amphibious Vehicle AAV7A1 RAM/RS Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey MV-22B Tiltrotor aircraft Combat Rubber Raiding Craft Komatsu LAV Mitsubishi Type 73 Light Truck Toyota Type 73 Medium Truck Imperial Japanese Navy Land Forces — Historical units Official website
Hokkaido
Hokkaido known as Ezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is the second largest island of Japan, the largest and northernmost prefecture. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The largest city on Hokkaido is its capital, its only ordinance-designated city. About 43 km north of Hokkaido lies Russia. To its east and north-east are the disputed Kuril Islands; the Nihon Shoki, finished in 720 AD, is said to be the first mention of Hokkaido in recorded history. According to the text, Abe no Hirafu led a large navy and army to northern areas from 658 to 660 and came into contact with the Mishihase and Emishi. One of the places Hirafu went to was called Watarishima, believed to be present-day Hokkaido. However, many theories exist in relation to the details of this event, including the location of Watarishima and the common belief that the Emishi in Watarishima were the ancestors of the present-day Ainu people. During the Nara and Heian periods, people in Hokkaido conducted trade with Dewa Province, an outpost of the Japanese central government.
From the Middle Ages, the people in Hokkaido began to be called Ezo. Hokkaido subsequently became known as Ezogashima; the Ezo relied upon hunting and fishing and obtained rice and iron through trade with the Japanese. During the Muromachi period, the Japanese created a settlement at the south of the Oshima Peninsula; as more people moved to the settlement to avoid battles, disputes arose between the Japanese and the Ainu. The disputes developed into a war. Takeda Nobuhiro killed the Ainu leader and defeated the opposition in 1457. Nobuhiro's descendants became the rulers of the Matsumae-han, granted exclusive trading rights with the Ainu in the Azuchi-Momoyama and Edo periods; the Matsumae family's economy relied upon trade with the Ainu. They held authority over the south of Ezochi until the end of the Edo period in 1868; the Matsumae clan rule over the Ainu must be understood in the context of the expansion of the Japanese feudal state. Medieval military leaders in northern Honshū maintained only tenuous political and cultural ties to the imperial court and its proxies, the Kamakura Shogunate and Ashikaga Shogunate.
Feudal strongmen sometimes located themselves within medieval institutional order, taking shogunal titles, while in other times they assumed titles that seemed to give them a non-Japanese identity. In fact, many of the feudal strongmen were descended from Emishi military leaders, assimilated into Japanese society; the Matsumae clan were of Yamato descent like other ethnic Japanese people, whereas the Emishi of northern Honshu were a distinctive group related to the Ainu. The Emishi were conquered and integrated into the Japanese state dating back as far as the 8th century, as result began to lose their distinctive culture and ethnicity as they became minorities. By the time the Matsumae clan ruled over the Ainu most of the Emishi were ethnically mixed and physically closer to Japanese than they were to Ainu; this dovetails nicely with the "transformation" theory that native Jōmon peoples changed with the infusion of Yayoi immigrants into the Tōhoku rather than the "replacement" theory which posits that one population was replaced by another.
There were numerous revolts by the Ainu against the feudal rule. The last large-scale resistance was Shakushain's Revolt in 1669–1672. In 1789, a smaller movement, the Menashi–Kunashir rebellion, was crushed. After that rebellion, the terms "Japanese" and "Ainu" referred to distinguished groups, the Matsumae were unequivocally Japanese. In 1799–1821 and 1855–1858, the Edo Shogunate took direct control over Hokkaido in response to a perceived threat from Russia. Leading up to the Meiji Restoration, the Tokugawa Shogunate realized there was a need to prepare northern defenses against a possible Russian invasion and took over control of most of Ezochi; the Shogunate made the plight of the Ainu easier, but did not change the overall form of rule. Hokkaido was known as Ezochi until the Meiji Restoration. Shortly after the Boshin War in 1868, a group of Tokugawa loyalists led by Enomoto Takeaki temporarily occupied the island, but the rebellion was crushed in May 1869. Ezochi was subsequently put under control of Hakodate Prefectural Government.
When establishing the Development Commission, the Meiji Government introduced a new name. After 1869, the northern Japanese island was known as Hokkaido; the primary purpose of the development commission was to secure Hokkaido before the Russians extended their control of the Far East beyond Vladivostok. Kuroda Kiyotaka was put in charge of the venture, his first step was to journey to the United States and recruit Horace Capron, President Grant's Commissioner of Agriculture. From 1871 to 1873 Capron bent his efforts to expounding Western agriculture and mining with mixed results. Capron, frustrated with obstacles to his efforts returned home in 1875. In 1876, William S. Clark arrived to found an agricultural college in Sapporo. Although he only remained a year, Clark left a lasting impression on Hokkaido, inspiring the Japanese with his teachings on agriculture as well as Christianity
Japan
Japan Self-Defense Forces
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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
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.
1st Airborne Brigade, at Camp Narashino in Funabashi, 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
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