Kōichi Isobe


Kōichi Isobe is a retired lieutenant general in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.
He retired from active duty in August 2015, after thirty-five years of service in the Japan Self-Defense Forces.
He currently serves as a Strategic Advisor to Kawasaki Heavy Industries. He also serves Senior Fellows of Harvard University Asia Center, and Asia Pacific Initiative Foundation.

Career

General Kōichi Isobe was the 37th Commander, Eastern Army in his final two years of service. Eastern Army's area of responsibility covers the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and 10 prefectures, and nearly half of the Japanese total population and GDP.
During his tenure, he deployed more than one hundred thousand JSDF personnel in three big disasters: October 2013 Pacific typhoon season flood/landslide on Izu Ōshima, February 2014's record-breaking snowfall in the Kantō region, and September 2014 Mount Ontake eruption.
Unique among JGSDF general officers, General Kōichi Isobe experienced Joint Staff senior positions twice: Director J-5 and Vice Chief of Staff. He played as a linchpin of Japan-US military coordination via Operation Tomodachi during the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011 whilst serving as J-5. As Vice Chief, Joint Staff, he initiated Amphibious Warfare Study Forum among the JSDF three-service senior leaders.

Early life and education

General Kōichi Isobe was born in 1958 in Tokushima Prefecture.
He attended National Defense Academy of Japan and was commissioned as a second lieutenant of the GSDF in 1981.
He was a helicopter aviator who flew OH-6 and Ch-47. After graduation from Command & General Staff College, GSDF, he served at Japan-US Security Affairs Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs . He also served various staff appointments in General Staff Office, GSDF. His command positions included 9th Division Aviation Squadron, 7th Division and Eastern Army.
General Isobe earned Master of Military Studies at Marine Corps University in 1996. His master's degree paper earned the Brigadier A. W. Hammett Award. He also received Master of Science in national resource strategy at NDU, Fort McNair in 2003.

Awards


Legion of Merit

Meritorious Service Medal

General Kōichi Isobe’s recent articles

“The Amphibious Operations Brigade -The establishment of the JGSDF brigade and its challenges,” Marine Corps Gazette February 2017 Vol.101 No.2
“An Insider’s View of the History, Evolution, and Prospects of Japan’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade,” U.S.-Japan Alliance Conference -Meeting the Challenge of Amphibious Operations-, The Rand Corporation 2018
https://www.rand.org/pubs/conf_proceedings/CF387.html