Shigeru Handa (born 1955) is a Japanese journalist specializing in defense and security. Born in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, he worked for the Shimotsuke Shimbun before joining the Chunichi Shimbun in 1991. He began covering Japan’s Defense Agency in 1992 and subsequently served as a reporter, senior editorial staff member, and editorial writer at the Tokyo Shimbun, retiring in 2020. His reporting examines the Self-Defense Forces, overseas deployments, the Japan–U.S. alliance, and defense policy, with particular attention to civilian control and public access to information. In 2007, his newspaper series “Shin sakimori ko,” published in the Tokyo Shimbun and Chunichi Shimbun, received the grand prize from the Peace and Cooperative Journalist Fund. His investigation of changing military roles, “‘Senchi’ haken” (deployments to war zones and the changing Self-Defense Forces), explores operations in the Indian Ocean and Iraq alongside the political negotiations surrounding them. It examines expanding missions and problems of civilian control and received a Japan Congress of Journalists Award in 2009. His investigation of peacekeeping, “Kensho Jieitai Minami Sudan PKO” (an examination of the Self-Defense Forces’ South Sudan mission), addresses fighting on the ground and the concealment of daily operational reports, questioning decisions about continued deployment, personnel safety, and political oversight. His study of defense policy and economic interests, “Gunji bijinesu to anzen hosho” (military business and national security), examines rising defense spending, arms exports, government–industry relations, and military research at universities. It critically considers what policies promoting defense manufacturing as a growth industry mean for public safety and scientific research.
