Misa Matsushima

First Lieutenant Misa Matsushima is the first female fighter pilot in Japan.
Matsushima graduated from the Japan National Defense Academy in March 2014 and obtained her pilot's license in October 2016. Matsushima initially trained to be a transport and rescue pilot, but started training to be a fighter pilot after the Ministry of Defense opened the fighter pilot specialization to women candidates in 2015. She received her fighter certification on August 23, 2018, and was assigned to 305th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's 5th Air Wing, headquartered at Nyutabaru Air Base, where she flies the Mitsubishi F-15J.
In October 2023, she and her husband, First Lieutenant Yoko Ito, passed the Command and Staff Office Course exam, and it was decided that the couple would both enter the Air Self-Defense Force Officer College in April 2024.
Japan has had female military aviators since Kazue Kashiji in 1997; Matsushima is the first to pilot a fighter type aircraft.
Matsushima was inspired to become a fighter pilot from watching the 1986 movie Top Gun.