Japan’s Military Power

Hideki Nakamura entered the Japan National Defense Academy in Yokosuka in 1970. After graduating in 1974, he then attended the Maritime Self-Defense Force Officer’s Candidate School at Eta Jima in Hiroshima Prefecture. He rose through the ranks to prominence as an ace submariner, eventually becoming the commanding officer of the submarine Arashio (SS 586). He also served as a professor and analyst within the Defense Agency before retiring in 2005. He authored 12 books on security matters before his passing in December 2018.

Robert D. Eldridge received his PhD in Japanese Political and Diplomatic History from Kobe University, Japan, in 1999. He has served as tenured Associate Professor at the School of International Public Policy of Osaka University, and as a Visiting Scholar at numerous other universities and think-tanks in Japan, including the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies and the Nakasone Yasuhiro Peace Institute. He is the author, editor, and contributor to more than 80 volumes, including his co-edited books The Ground Self-Defense Forces: The Search for Legitimacy (2017) and The Japan Self-Defense Forces Law: Translation, History, and Analysis (2019).

Graham B. Leonard is an independent translator and researcher, and holds an MA in Japanese Studies from the University of Washington. He received a doctorate from the School of International Public Policy of Osaka University. His primary research interests include the history of US-Japan relations and modern Japanese history, especially as related to defense and alliance issues. His recent published translations include Sase Masamori’s Changing Security Policies in Postwar Japan: The Political Biography of Sakata Michita (2017) and Kitaoka Shinichi’s The Political History of Modern Japan: Foreign Relations and Domestic Politics (2018), both co-translated with Robert D. Eldridge.