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 as Senior Fellow of Harvard University Asia Center and at the Asia Pacific Initiative Foundation. Early life and education General Kōichi Isobe was born in 1958 in Tokushima Prefecture. He attended the National Defense Academy of Japan (the SDF joint military academy) and was commissioned as a second lieutenant of the GSDF in 1981. He was a helicopter aviator who flew OH-6 Cayuse and Ch-47 Chinook helicopters. After graduation from Command & General Staff College, GSDF, he served at Japan-US Security Affairs Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan) (August 1989 – August 1991). He also served various staff appointments in General Staff Office, GSDF. His command positions included 9th Division Aviation Squadron, 7th Division, and the Eastern Army. General Isobe earned a Master of Military Studies at the Marine Corps University in 1996. His master's degree paper earned the Brigadier A. W. Hammett Award. He also received a Master of Science in national resource strategy at the