 In 1907-1908, Honjō was dispatched to Beijing and Shanghai as a military attaché, and the following year was promoted to major.After serving more staff positions, including a stint as instructor at the Army Staff College, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1917, and sent to Europe as a military attache in the aftermath of World War I.In 1919, he accompanied Japanese forces during the Siberian Intervention against the Bolshevik Red Army in eastern Russia.