Toshio Tamogami

Toshio Tamogami (田母神 俊雄, Tamogami Toshio; born July 22, 1948) is a retired Japan Air Self-Defense Force general and politician. He served as the Chief of Staff of the Air Self-Defense Force from March 2007 until his dismissal in October 31, 2008.

Tamogami was dismissed in 2008 due to a controversial essay he wrote. In the essay, he denied that Japan was an aggressor in World War II and claimed that Japan had been drawn into the war by Chiang Kai-shek and Franklin D. Roosevelt. He also argued that Japan's wartime actions were not acts of aggression but were justified as self-defense and efforts to "liberate Asia from Western colonialism."

Tamogami turned to politics following his retirement from the military. In 2014 he ran as a candidate for governor of Tokyo and for the House of Representatives; in which he both lost. He was arrested in April 2016 for alleged violations of campaign finance laws (illegal payments to supporters) in relation to his gubernatorial campaign. He made a political comeback in 2024 by running for the Tokyo gubernatorial election, but placed fourth and performed worse compared to his 2014 run. He has been described as a "champion of Japan's right wing". He denies that women were forced by the Empire of Japan into sex work as "comfort women" and that the Nanjing Massacre occurred.