Jōtarō Watanabe

Jōtarō Watanabe
General Watanabe Jōtarō
Born	April 16, 1874 Komaki, Aichi, Japan
Died	February 26, 1936(1936-02-26) (aged 61) Tokyo, Japan
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Service/branch	Imperial Japanese Army
Rank	General
Commands held	7th Infantry Division Taiwan Army of Japan Inspector General of Military Training
Battles/wars	Russo-Japanese War

Jōtarō Watanabe (渡辺 錠太郎, Watanabe Jōtarō^?, April 16, 1874 – February 26, 1936) was a general in the early Showa period Imperial Japanese Army, noted as one of the victims of the February 26 Incident.

Watanabe was a native of Komaki, Aichi, and entered the 8th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in July 1895. On graduation in June 1897, he was assigned to the IJA 19th Infantry Regiment and was promoted to lieutenant in November 1899. He entered the 17th class of the Army Staff College in December 1900. On graduation in December 1903, he was promoted to captain, and made a squad leader in the IJA 36th Infantry Regiment, which he accompanied to Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. At the end of the war, he was reassigned to the Imperial General Headquarters and the following year was appointed as an aide to General Yamagata Aritomo. He was sent as a military attache to China in 1906 and Germany in 1907, and was promoted to major in December 1908. Watanabe returned to Germany as a military attache attached to the Japanese embassy in Berlin from May 1909 to June 1910, and on his return to Tokyo was assigned to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office. In November 1910, Field Marshal Yamagata again requested that Watanabe be appointed as his aide, and Watanabe served Yamagata again until February 1915. In the interim, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in June 1913. In February 1915, after the start of World War I, Watanabe was assigned to the IJA 3rd Infantry Regiment. He transferred back to the General Staff in May 1916, and was promoted to colonel in July of the same year. In October 1917, he was sent as a military attache to the Japanese embassy at Brussels, Belgium, where he was able to study first-hand on the effects of mechanized warfare.