The government has appointed Gen. Hiroaki Uchikura as the next chief of staff of the Defense Ministry's Joint Staff — a key post that will work closely with the Self-Defense Force’s new Joint Operations Command amid the growing military challenge from China.
The appointment, which was approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday, will take effect on Aug. 1. Uchikura, 60, who currently serves as chief of staff of the Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF), will succeed retiring Gen. Yoshihide Yoshida, 62, who has held the post since March 2023.
Hiroaki Uchikura, a native of Kagoshima Prefecture, graduated from the National Defense Academy in 1987, joining the Air Self-Defense Force and later serving as ASDF vice chief of staff and head of the Air Defense Command.
Uchikura will take the reins as the country’s top uniformed officer as the SDF undergoes dramatic transformations to respond to what the Defense Ministry has characterized as “a new era of crisis” — including China’s military muscle-flexing in the region and growing uncertainty about the U.S.-Japan alliance.
He will also play a key role in working with Gen. Kenichiro Nagumo, head of the new permanent Joint Operations Command.
Known as JJOC, the command was established in March to centrally oversee the SDF’s three branches, allowing for the smoother integration of operations across domains to prepare for and respond to possible emergencies — including a crisis over democratic Taiwan.
But Uchikura will have big shoes to fill.
Yoshida was the first officer who was not a graduate of the National Defense Academy to be appointed head of the Joint Staff, and played a key role in pushing for even stronger cooperation with Tokyo’s like-minded neighbors while boosting the deterrence and response capabilities of the U.S.-Japan alliance.
The Cabinet also approved the appointment of Gen. Takehiro Morita as the new ASDF head, and named Gen. Masayoshi Arai to replace retiring Ground Self-Defense Force chief Yasunori Morishita.
It also announced that Taro Yamato, who leads the Defense Ministry's policy bureau, will replace retiring Administrative Vice Minister of Defense Kazuo Masuda as the ministry’s top bureaucrat, while Hajime Aoyagi will take up the helm of the ministry’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency.
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