Ships
- IJN Shikinami Captain from 25 January 1940
Juichi Iwagami was an officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy who took command of the destroyer Shikinami on 25 January 1940. He began that appointment as a lieutenant commander and was promoted to commander on 15 October 1941, still in the same post. Shikinami was a Fubuki-class destroyer, built at Maizuru, launched in June 1929 and completed that December. By the time Iwagami became her captain she had already served on the China coast.
Under Iwagami, Shikinami spent 1940 and much of 1941 on patrol and in support of Japanese landings in southern China. She served in Destroyer Division 19 with Uranami, Ayanami, and Isonami, and the division formed part of Destroyer Squadron 3 in the First Fleet. As Japan prepared to open the southern campaign, the squadron left home waters. On 20 November 1941 Shikinami sailed from Kure and reached Samah, on Hainan, on 26 November.
From 4 December 1941 until 11 January 1942, Iwagami kept Shikinami with the transports carrying the 25th Army from Samah and Cam Ranh Bay to the landings in Malaya. Through the rest of January and much of February the destroyer was detached to screen the light carrier Ryujo, whose aircraft attacked Allied ships in the Java Sea and in the Bangka Strait. On the night of 28 February to 1 March 1942, Shikinami came into the closing minutes of the battle in Sunda Strait and hit the American heavy cruiser Houston with a torpedo. Houston, already shattered by the night action, sank. Shells bursting close to Shikinami left her only lightly damaged.
In March 1942 Shikinami escorted convoys that ran from Saigon through Singapore and landed troops and supplies at Rangoon. She anchored at Singapore on 6 April, and Destroyer Division 19 then started for Japan. On 15 April 1942, during a short stop at Cam Ranh, Iwagami turned the ship over to Akifumi Kawahashi. Shikinami reached Kure on 22 April and went into the yard for a refit. Iwagami's command had covered the South China patrols, the Malayan landings, the Java operations, and the Burma run.
Later captains of Shikinami included Shozo Michiki and Tatsuhiko Takahashi. On 12 September 1944, with Takahashi in command, the destroyer was escorting a convoy out of Singapore for Japan when the American submarine Growler torpedoed her about 240 nautical miles south of Hong Kong. She sank at once. Takahashi and Rear Admiral Sadamichi Kajioka, who was embarked, were killed. The escort Mikura rescued eight officers and 120 men. Shikinami was removed from the Navy list on 10 October 1944.