Keizo Kitagawa

Dr Keizo Kitagawa is a professor in the Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University, Japan. He is also an Associate Fellow of RUSI, a Research Advisor at the ITOCHU Research Institute, and a Senior Research Fellow at YCAPS. His expertise encompasses defence and security, strategy, military history and leadership. He is a frequent contributor to academic journals and edited volumes. Dr Kitagawa published two books, Falklands War (Chikuma Shobo, 2026) and Intellectual innovation in Military Organizations: the creative power of doctrine and operational art (Keiso Shobo, 2020). He served as a naval officer in the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) for 31 years and retired as a Captain in December 2024. He served in various levels of command as a surface warfare officer. He also served in strategy and policy positions at the Maritime Staff Office, and his last position was as Dean of the Strategic Studies Department at the JMSDF Command and Staff College in Tokyo. He has served overseas in various posts, including support of Operation Enduring Freedom (2002) and with UNDOF in Syria (2003–04). Whilst deployed in Djibouti for the counter-piracy operation (2009–10), he coordinated the establishment of Japan’s first overseas operational station since the end of World War II. From 2013 to 2016, he served as the Defence Attaché to the United Kingdom in London. Dr Kitagawa holds a PhD in policy and media from Keio University, a master’s degree in security studies from the National Defence Academy of Japan, and a BS from the United States Naval Academy (class of 1993).