International Peace Cooperation Activities Training Unit

The International Peace Cooperation Activities Training Unit (国際活動教育隊) is the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces's training unit to prepare JGSDF soldiers by training them in scenarios that would require the mobilization of JGSDF forces in other countries. It is based in the JGSDF's Camp Komakado in the Shizuoka Prefecture.

The IPCATU aims to have 240 soldiers graduate from the unit's training program annually.

Colonel Karube says training with the IPCATU is an "important point is to verify whether the training now being conducted can really be useful in theaters of activity overseas and to develop unified know-how for personnel education."

History
A provisional unit had been established on March 28, 2006, which was then followed by its expansion on August 1, 2006. The IPCATU's headquarters had been constructed on April 2006 before it was inaugurated on February 23, 2007. A special ceremony was established on September 19, 2008 to inaugurate the beginning of the unit's first official training program.

The unit had been established in conjunction with the Central Readiness Force to the need of educating JGSDF forces to properly conduct operations in foreign soil. Its first commander was Colonel Masakazu Karube, who was unit commander from March 28, 2007 to March 25, 2009.

Training
Training under the IPCATU lasts for one month with graduates expecting to serve overseas in potential peacekeeping operations. All participants are required then to attend a review session after each training session is complete.

Formation
Headquarters
 * Education Branch
 * Evaluation Branch
 * Research Branch
 * Training Support Platoon