Joichiro Sanada

Joichirō Sanada (真田 穣一郎, Joichirō Sanada, November 21, 1897 – August 3, 1957) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II. Throughout much of the war, Sanada was an important and influential officer on the staff of the Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo.

A native of what is now Bibai, Hokkaidō, Sanada graduated from Sapporo South High School and the army cadet school in Sendai before being accepted into the 31st class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. He served in the infantry, and subsequently graduated from the 39th class of the Army Staff College in 1927. He served with the Tokyo Defense Headquarters in his early career, and held a number of staff assignments at the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff. He was sent as a military attache to Europe from 1936-1937. After his return to Japan, from 1938–1939, he was Secretary to the Minister of War. From 1939-1940, he briefly held a field command (IJA 86th Infantry Regiment) before his appointment as Army Liaison Officer to the Japanese China Area Fleet from 1940-1941.

Sanada was a strong supporter of Hideki Tōjō's rise to the position of prime minister in the Japanese government, and served in various senior positions within the Army General Staff during World War II. In the closing days of the war, he became Chief of Staff of the Second General Army.