Japan made the chief of the Joint Staff a deliberately constrained office. Limits on military power grew from the country's awareness of its wartime history and its determination to avoid repeating past failures. A senior officer therefore had to exercise useful influence while accepting firm restraints on command authority. This institutional setting helps explain why Kawano relied so heavily on persuasion.
Notable Point · 15:50-16:57
The civil-military tightrope of Japan's Joint Staff chief
The Joint Staff post required Kawano to exercise senior military leadership within restraints shaped by Japan's wartime history and postwar institutions.