After his return to Tokyo, he served as a battalion commander in the 1st Infantry Regiment, and in various administrative posts within the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff.

The primary role of the IJA 21st Army was the Canton Operation (the invasion of Guangdong Province in southern China), together with the Imperial Japanese Navy’s 5th Fleet, which it completed by the end of the year.

[1] Instead, in January 1942 his division was transferred to the control of the IJA 16th Army in eastern Java, where was assigned the capture of Surabaya and its strategic oil fields on 7 March 1942.

Tsuchihachi maintained the Japanese policy of neutrality in Indochinese internal politics, and formed a government of French-trained but nationalist ministers.

[5] Just before the Japanese surrender, Tsuchihashi met with envoys of the Viet Minh and agreed to turn over power to their movement; however, only days later, French forces arrived to reimpose colonial rule.