He spent much of the 1920s and 1930s in a series of staff positions in the North China Area Army and in Japan, before his promotion to major general in 1940.

[3] Kawaguchi's reinforced brigade made a series of landings in British Borneo in December 1941 and January 1942: at Miri, Kuching, Brunei, Jesselton, Beaufort, Labuan Island and Sandakan.

As commander of Army forces on Cebu after the invasion of the Philippines in 1942, Kawaguchi objected strenuously to the "revenge killings" of senior Philippine government officials and supreme court justices by Japanese authorities, most notably Japanese Army Colonel Masanobu Tsuji.

Kawaguchi was subsequently relieved of command during the Japanese preparations for another attack in October 1942 and evacuated from the island and back to Japan.

On July 4, 1953, President Elpidio Quirino pardoned all the remaining Japanese war criminals under Philippine jurisdiction.