Gen Nakatani (born 14 October 1957) was the Minister of Defense of Japan from 24 December 2014 to 3 August 2016, succeeding Akinori Eto and preceding Tomomi Inada.
Biography[]
Gen Nakatani was born on 14 October 1957 in Kochi, Japan and graduated from the National Defense Academy. He joined the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party, and Nakatani and Shigeru Ishiba were both behind the rearmament of Japan, hoping to rename the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to a full national defense army. Nakatani called the restrictions "long out of date", and he sought to transform Japan into a stronger and more independent country. On 24 December 2014, Nakatani was made Minister of Defense. On 29 January 2016, Nakatani had to deal with North Korea's possible ballistic missile launches towards Japan, so he sent Kongo-class destroyers to shoot down any missiles that could strike Japan. In 2016, Tomomi Inada succeeded him as Defense Minister.