was the chief of staff

Chief of Staff

The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...

 of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

's Air Self-Defense Force

Japan Air Self-Defense Force

The , or JASDF, is the aviation branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces responsible for the defense of Japanese airspace and other aerospace operations. The JASDF carries out combat air patrols around Japan, while also maintaining an extensive network of ground and air early warning radar systems...

 from March 2007 to November 2008.

Career and retirement

Tamogami was dismissed with a 60 million yen allowance due to an essay he published on October 31, 2008, arguing that "it is a false accusation to say (Japan) was an aggressor nation" during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and that it was rather drawn into the war by Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....

 and Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

, who had allegedly been manipulated by the Comintern

Comintern

The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...

. The essay also argues that the war brought prosperity to occupied China, Taiwan and Korea, that "it is often those who never directly saw the Japanese military

Imperial Japanese Army

-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...

 who are spreading rumors about the army's act of brutality

Japanese war crimes

Japanese war crimes occurred during the period of Japanese imperialism, primarily during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. Some of the incidents have also been described as an Asian Holocaust and Japanese war atrocities...

", that the Greater East Asia War is viewed in a positive way by many Asian countries and criticizes the war crimes trials which followed the war.

Following the essay's publication, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada

Yasukazu Hamada

is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet . A native of Futtsu, Chiba and graduate of Senshu University he was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1993.In the Cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso, appointed...

 removed Tamogami from the post and ordered him to retire, since its viewpoint contradicted the government position and was likely to anger Japan's regional neighbors. Tamogami, on November 3, 2008 confirmed that the essay accurately expressed his views on the war and Japan's role in it. He had already written a similar essay in May 2007 for an ASDF internal publication.

On 13 November, prime minister Taro Aso

Taro Aso

was the 92nd Prime Minister of Japan serving from September 2008 to September 2009, and was defeated in the August 2009 election.He has served in the House of Representatives since 1979. He was Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2007, and was Secretary-General of the LDP briefly in 2007 and...

 said Tamogami decision's to write this essay was "extremely inappropriate" and the government was wrong in having overlooked Tamogami's views for many years.

The essay which led to Tamogami's dismissal had been solicited for a writing contest organized and sponsored by his friend, prominent businessman and nationalist Toshio Motoya, under the theme "True Interpretation of Modern History." Motoya and the other judges, including Shoichi Watabe, an honorary professor at Sophia University

Sophia University

There are several rankings below related to Sophia University.-General Rankings:The university was ranked 61st in 2010 in the ranking Truly Strong Universities by Toyo Keizai...

, awarded Tamogami the competition's ¥3 million first prize. The piece later appeared in a book published by Motoya, "The Shocking Truth About Modern History," which also featured other essays entered in the competition.

Other outspoken remarks

Tamogami had long been a controversial figure, gaining attention in the press for a number of outspoken remarks. On the occasion of an unsuccessful civil case brought against the government for sending troops to Iraq, he remarked that he felt some of the activities of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force were against Japan's peace constitution

Constitution of Japan

The is the fundamental law of Japan. It was enacted on 3 May, 1947 as a new constitution for postwar Japan.-Outline:The constitution provides for a parliamentary system of government and guarantees certain fundamental rights...

, causing the litigants to claim a moral victory. On 14 July 2004, when questioned further about this supposed 'unconstitutionality' of the Air Self-Defense Force, he said his opinion should not distress its members since (quoting the catch phrase of Yoshio Kojima

Yoshio Kojima

is a Japanese comedian famous for appearing only in a small bathing suit, during both performances and interviews. Among his well-known catchphrases are Sonna no kankei nee and Oppapī , an abbreviation of "Ocean Pacific Peace",...

, a popular comedian) "what does that matter?" At a semi-political meeting on the 15 September 2004, he said that he felt that it would probably be necessary for Japan to develop nuclear arms in order to be seen as an independent nation by China, and that promising never to develop nuclear arms is "foolish." After the furor created by his essay and dismissal, he was asked by a British journalist on 1 December 2008 whether he would have used nuclear arms against America in 1945; he responded he "might have considered using nuclear weapons against the United States had he been a general for a nuclear-capable Japan in 1945, especially if it was a case of nuking in response to the threat of American nuclear weapons." Tamogami claims that other members of the Japanese government and military share his views.

Involvement with Japanese nationalist groups

Since being sacked as a chief of staff for the Self Defense Force, Tamogami has become involved with the Japanese nationalist

Japanese nationalism

encompasses a broad range of ideas and sentiments harbored by the Japanese people over the last two centuries regarding their native country, its cultural nature, political form and historical destiny...

 groups. He organized a rally to protest the Senkaku Islands

Senkaku Islands

The , also known as the Diaoyu Islands or Diaoyutai Islands or the Pinnacle Islands, are a group of disputed uninhabited islands in the East China Sea...

 incident where a Chinese fishing trawler collided with two Japanese Coast Guard patrol boats. At the anti-China rally, he said: "Senkaku Islands is Japan's traditional territory, if we don't protect it, China will make action to take it."

Humour

Tamogami is known for making jokes, particularly about his own diminutive stature. When criticized for his outspoken remarks he countered that "he did not lack loftiness of speech, only of height ," and when commenting on defense spending cuts, he said of his own appointment "The slimming down of the self defense forces has begun, with the appointment of a more compact Chief of Staff." When criticized for accepting severance pay after the scandal caused by his essay, he quipped "Well, at last my wife and children are giving me hot food again."

External links

• Toshio Tamogami official page
• Toshio Tamogami official blog
• Tamogami's Controversial Essay English Version
• Article Strongly Criticising Tamogami's Essay http://www.observingjapan.com/2008/11/tamogami-affair.html