Lieutenant Commander Yuta Kawabata (left) of the JMSDF receives the first James E Auer Award from Vice Admiral Hiroyuki Habuchi at the March 18, 2026 graduation ceremony. JMSDF Command and Staff College, Meguro Ward, Tokyo. (©Sankei by Mizuki Okada)
Vice Admiral Hiroyuki Habuchi, president of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Command and Staff College, presided over the graduation ceremony for its "Command and Staff Course" on Wednesday, March 18. Highlighting the ceremony, was the presentation of a new award honoring the achievements of the late Dr James E Auer, Professor Emeritus of Vanderbilt University. JMSDF Lieutenant Commander Yuta Kawabata received the award for his research on nuclear strategy in an era of great power competition.
The James E Auer Award was established in 2026 to honor the first American ever to study at the JMSDF Command and Staff College. Auer later became well-known for his efforts to strengthen the United States-Japan alliance.
There were 39 JMSDF Staff College Command and Staff Course graduates in 2026. They included officers from the Ground, Maritime, and Air Self-Defense Forces. Following Dr Auer's example, there were also students from the militaries of Australia, India, South Korea, Thailand, and the US.
A Daughter's Tribute
At the graduation ceremony, Dr Auer's eldest daughter, Helen, took the stage. She emphasized: "My father had a long career with its roots here, at this institution. He encouraged and promoted personal friendships, mutual respect, and cooperation between the US Navy and the JMSDF, founded on the belief that it was to the mutual benefit of both countries to do so."
She added, "This became the heart of his lifelong mission to encourage Japan to stand as an equal partner of international stability on a global scale. Please carry that mission forward on his behalf."
Passion for Both Countries and Their Navies
After joining the US Navy, Dr Auer graduated from the Command and Staff Course of the JMSDF Command and Staff College in the 1970s. Later, from 1979, he served as Director of the Japan Desk at the US Department of Defense. Throughout the Ronald Reagan administration, Auer worked tirelessly to strengthen the US-Japan alliance. His work subsequently continued in Tennessee, where he established the Vanderbilt University Center for US-Japan Studies and Cooperation.
Auer received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon in 2008. He died in 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, in the southern United States, at the age of 82.
In July 2025, a joint US-Japan funeral service was held for Dr Auer off the coast of Maizuru City, Kyoto Prefecture. With his family and many Japanese and Americans who he had mentored watching, an urn containing his ashes was quietly dropped into the Sea of Japan from the deck of the JMSDF minesweeper support ship, "JS Bungo."
Dr Auer had a deep passion for minesweeping operations. This stemmed from his experience serving on ships in the US Navy and his research in the JMSDF. He left a will stating, "When I pass away, I wish my remains to be buried at sea in Japan onboard a JMSDF minesweeper."
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(Read this report in Japanese.)
Author: Mizuki Okada
