  , abbreviated  is the national, four-year university-level military academy aimed to educate and train students who will be serving as officers in the three services of the japan self-defense forces. it is located in yokosuka, kanagawa on the grounds close to the former imperial japanese army academy. ==history== the national defense academy of japan was opened in 1952 as national safety academy (ä¿å®å¤§å­¦æ ¡), and was renamed "national defense academy" in 1954, when the incipient japanese military was renamed from "national safety forces" (ä¿å®é)to "self-defense forces" (èªè¡éï¼. in contrast to the prewar period, when the imperial navy and army had separate academies (imperial japanese army academy and imperial japanese navy academy, the national safety academy (later the national defense academy) was established as a unified institution in order to mitigate the effects of sectionalism and inter-service rivalry. the academy matriculated its first female student in 1992. ==selection== its main course students are selected from applicants and typically are recent graduates from japanese civilian senior high schools who have completed twelve years of formal schooling. they are paid a salary as employees of the ministry of defense. after graduation they are posted to the officer candidate schools in one of three forces, conduct training alongside civilian university graduates and internal promotees before being posted as officers. ==postgraduate== the academy also con
1953_establishments_in_Japan Educational_institutions_established_in_1953 Japan_Self-Defense_Forces Military_academies_of_Japan Universities_and_colleges_in_Kanagawa_Prefecture Yokosuka,_Kanagawa