Friends of the Ground Self-Defense Force throughout Japan and the world were saddened to learn about the passing of Eiji Kimizuka, a retired four-star general who served as the Chief of Staff of the GSDF from 2011 to 2013 but perhaps was best known for leading the bilateral response to the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. He was 63.

He died Monday of lung cancer after recently being hospitalized. Earlier this month, I received an email from his wife telling me about his hospitalization "since the latter part of November," but I did not realize it was so serious. I had written to him previously, as part of our long correspondence, this time to ask him some questions about Operation Tomodachi, the massive relief effort led by the U.S. in support of Japan, for a book I am writing. Unusually, it was several days before I got a response, and in this case, from his wife. He had kindly related the answers to her, and she passed them along.

I first met then-Maj. Gen. Kimizuka when he was the commanding general of the 1st Combined Brigade (now 15th Brigade) in Okinawa in summer 2004, immediately before I went on a sabbatical from Osaka University to work for the U.S. Marine Corps in Hawaii for one year. After serving as the head of the personnel division in Ichigaya, he moved to the Osaka area in July 2006 to serve as the chief of staff of Middle Army Headquarters and commander of Camp Itami. Our relationship grew during this time thanks to the proximity, but also due to his dedication to community relations.