National Defense Academy of Japan

National Defense Academy of Japan (防衛大学校), abbreviated NDA (防大) is the national, four-year university-level military academy aimed to educate and train students who will be serving as officers in the three services of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. It is located in Yokosuka, Kanagawa on the grounds close to the former Imperial Japanese Army Academy.

History
The National Defense Academy of Japan was opened in 1953, and matriculated its first female student in 1992. It is the successor to the Imperial Japanese Army Academy which was originally established as the Heigakkō in 1868 in Kyoto.

Selection
Its main course students are selected from applicants and typically are recent graduates from Japanese civilian senior high schools who have completed twelve years of formal schooling. They are paid a salary as employees of the Ministry of Defense.

After graduation they are posted to the Officer Candidate Schools in one of three forces, conduct training alongside civilian university graduates and internal promotees before being posted as officers.

Postgraduate
The academy also conducts master's and doctoral level courses for students who are endorsed by their supervisors at their respective serving forces.

Affiliation
The National Institution for Academic Degrees and University Evaluation, an affiliate of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has recognised the courses and awards the graduates degrees on request. As the Academy is not an MEXT-recognised university it cannot offer its own degrees.

List of Presidents

 * Tomoō Maki (1952.8.19 - 1965.1.16)
 * Hiroshi Omori (1965.1.16 - 1970.7.1)
 * Masamichi Inoki (1970.7.16 - 1978.7.15)
 * Kuniyasu Tsuchida (1978.9.29 - 1987.3.24)
 * Haruo Natsume (1987.3.24 - 1993.9.30)
 * Saburō Matsumoto (1993.10.1 - 2000.3.31)
 * Masashi Nishihara (2000.4.1 - 2006.3.31)
 * Makoto Iokibe (2006.8.1 - 2012.3.31)
 * Ryosei Kokubun (2012.4.1. - present)

Notable alumni

 * Yoshifumi Hibako, chief of staff, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
 * Yuji Fujinawa, chief of staff, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
 * Toshio Tamogami, chief of staff, Japan Air Self-Defense Force
 * Satoshi Morimoto, scholar
 * Gen Nakatani, Minister of State for Defense in the first cabinet of Junichiro Koizumi.
 * Yoshihiro Murai, governor of Miyagi Prefecture
 * Masahisa Sato, member of the House of Councillors
 * Takashi Uto, member of the House of Councillors
 * Kimiya Yui, astronaut

Notable faculty

 * Condoleezza Rice had a three-week visiting professorship at the NDAJ in 1984, where she "had a hard time adjusting to the rigid hierarchy," according to her 2010 memoirs, Extraordinary, Ordinary People.