My JSDF Stuff

My first "hard to get items" were Japanese and since then I've had an unusual interest in getting JSDF items. Here are the things I've collected so far:

First up, a "Jieitai" uniform named to Sgt. Koyama of "Eastward Transport", 1990's era.


A matching boonie, unsure of era, tag and chinstrap are missing.




A "Fang" shirt, named to Sgt. Maj. Tahara, unsure of unit, guessing 2nd Infantry. Dated 1980, has a glow-in-the-dark tag sewed into the back of the collar.
I've seen some of these dated early as 1976, although I can't find any photos that old.


My first pair of Fang trousers, dated 1983. The "Fang" uniform was also allegedly called the "Mk. 1 Camouflage Uniform", and the "Jieitai" camo was the Mk. 2 and 3.


My second, heavily starched and still with lot# tags sewed in, also 1983.


The second pair also have two unusual OD nylon snap loops on the back, maybe for a web belt or equipment? I've never seen these on any other Japanese trousers.


A Fang ridgeway style cap, name and unit of a "Tagawa" on the interior. Has a tag, but production dates on caps for some reason are rare. Guessing 1980's.



A deployment cap in Fang for an airborne fellow. I've seen quite a few of these for Navy, a few for Air Force, several Jieitai ones, but I've only across maybe two of these in Fang.





A Type 65 uniform, all dated in the 90's to a Lt. Murata of the 28th Infantry Division.


2nd Type 65 shirt named to Staff Sgt. Takeshi, not sure of unit. Dated 1993.


And my third Type 65, sterilized, dated 1981.


A Type 65 cap, named to "Miyauchi" with an unusual unit patch on the back. Officer's badge on the front. The old T65 caps had lace headbands like the old IJA caps but the Fang cap has a strip of elastic. Not sure about the new Jieitai caps.



A T65 cap with an NCO's cockade, parade version.


As I understand it the Type 65 is still worn today for trainee's and as a work uniform.


A Type 70 visor for an enlisted man. Unfortunately has seen a lot of wear, the visor and front half of the headband have separated. Has the oh-so-desirable saddle sag as well.




A JMSDF "Umiji" general working cap, based off the Catalina cap. Acquired from a Marine who got it in 1984.



A JASDF High-Vis flightsuit, dated 1991. I wish this still had the insignia on it.


Enjoy!


-Nate

Nice collection, the Japanese camo is hard to find

Impressive collection of rarely seen Japanese uniforms.

Thanks for posting..



S

Great collection! I'm a big fan of the "fang" camo too! I've got a set but have never come across a cap, lucky dog!

Picked up a new uniform the other day

First up is a Type 65 set, badged to PFC Tajima of the 7th Division, 3rd Battalion.
No date on the tag, I believe this is a PX purchase uniform as I have never seen a Type 65 that didn't have the JSDF proof mark and production info.
The pants are fairly worn, and the shirt has the old white colored sleeve chevrons, I believe is from the 70's.
The 1950's JGSDF uniforms had white insignia tapes, as most JSDF equipment at the time that wasn't hand-me-down from the US, was a heavily copied item of the US.
I don't know the JSDF's old rank placement system, I believe NCO and higher ranks are moved to the collar.



Also that came, a Type 65 field jacket, dated 1979. These are quite rare, as I've only seen one other, and I'm still searching for at least one photo of it being worn.



The insignia tape is sadly worn away, from what I can tell it appears to be named to SFC Keizatsu, also of the 3rd Bat., 7th Div.
Also has white chevrons, although moved to the collar. It has a zip front that only slightly overlaps, four pockets, strangely the bottom pockets have no closures. Also wide epaulets to run suspender/yoke straps under.



This jacket has a fairly nice hood that buttons to the underside of the collar, has a drawstring adjustment, and a two button front.
The hood, interior of the pockets, and upper half of the interior of the jacket are nylon/nylon lined for waterproofing.

And if there's one thing I love as much as collecting, it's finding reference photos of the stuff in use!

This is the Type 65 parka, never seen one before, so I'm keeping my eye out for one.
































I'm not sure what uniform this is with the exposed buttons, as other photos show that female soldiers wear the same model uniform


The high-vis flightsuit. I had another photo of one from the JSDF magazine but seem to have lost it.


Here you can see the old Fang helmet cover worn on the new Type 88 helmet with the winter/autumn Jieitai uniform





Enjoy!
-Nate

Another outstanding post !!

Great olive green pieces and really good photos..



S

Thanks guys, it may not be one of the most popular collecting areas, but it certainly is fun!

Got a couple of things, first is a new Fang shirt, this one is missing the name and tag, however it still has the rank.
It is for a "Leading Private" which can best be described as a slightly higher up Private First Class.



Also my sister, who lives in Japan and knows of my hobby, sent this patch as a little trinket. I haven't been able to find out what unit it is from but I was very fond of it.



If anyone happens to know, please let me as well!
And some more reference photos




Some Type 65 field jackets in this one as well!



Enjoy!
-Nate

TennoHeikaNate wrote:Got a couple of things, first is a new Fang shirt, this one is missing the name and tag, however it still has the rank.
It is for a "Leading Private" which can best be described as a slightly higher up Private First Class.



Also my sister, who lives in Japan and knows of my hobby, sent this patch as a little trinket. I haven't been able to find out what unit it is from but I was very fond of it.



If anyone happens to know, please let me as well!
And some more reference photos




Some Type 65 field jackets in this one as well!



Enjoy!
-Nate

Patch is US Army, Japan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army,_Japan

Got my hands on a Jieitai kepi to complete my set.






Another Type 65 jacket. Tag missing, named to Sgt. Iwamoto. Something about being a 2nd unit of something as well but can't fully translate.






And finally a reversible Fang/OD MA-1. All of my searching for info on these from Japanese forums yielded the following:
They are all private purchase, and were as far as anyone could tell, never an issue item.
One JGSDF vet claimed the only time he saw crews wearing them camo-out was during exercises, all other times they were OD out to match their flight uniforms.
Pictures in-use are, as usual, rare and yet to be found.







I did find that there are some in the JASDF digital and a B-15 looking jacket in Jieitai being worn, no idea if they are issue though.







I don't remember if I explained my findings on the "Fang" camouflage before but if I did, then I will again:

According to what I found on some Japanese forums, the "Fang" camouflage, known formally as the "Type 1 Camouflage Pattern" and sometimes nicknamed the "Hokkaido", "Northern" or "Kumazasa Camouflage" (Bamboo Leaves/Grass), and today simply as the "Old Camouflage/Pattern" was introduced in the early 1970's, at least by 1976 from examples in others' collections.
It was initially issued to elite units such as airborne and recon troops but quickly spread to be a general issue uniform. Due to the restrictions placed on them after WW2, uniforms were never called "combat uniforms", but rather "working" or "camouflage working" uniforms.
The idea behind the Type 1 pattern was the Japanese Defense Forces' belief that a Soviet invasion would more than likely occur from the North, on their northernmost island of Hokkaido. Slightly smaller than Ireland, with a heavily mountainous central area surround by coastal plains, it seemed the most likely place for an amphibious landing and the best place to stage a defense, the idea being to fortify the mountains and volcanic plateaus as they did during WW2 and fend off the Soviets until US support could relieve them. The colors and pattern were chosen to match the harsher vegetation that grows in the much colder northern region, but is quite conspicuous in the tropical and humid central and southern regions like Honshu.
From other's collections I've found that they experimented with several different cuts and items, including a WW2 German smock and a jungle cut. Unknown which were adopted and which weren't, but to this day even the current Type 3 Jieitai uniform has its roots in the Type 65 uniform.

I've collected some photos, some I think came from Mr. Hoto, others from various forums, but can't remember all of them.



Examples of crisp and faded. Some sort of hood as well




A flight suit. Rarely seen. No photos in use




Cover for tanker helmet, not sure if issue or field made




An airborne shirt. Only difference I can find are the snap closures. Same for the OD Type 65.




A strange field jacket.




A German type smock.




A jungle cut uniform. Note the trousers have actual slash hand pockets, rather than the cargo pockets being placed at the hips.





Example of a badged MA-1




Camouflaged gas mask hood. This practice has been continued with the Jieitai pattern. The previous mask was the Type 3, a copy of the US M17





Paratrooper vest. Also no photos of use.




Prototype Fang. Notice the thinner shapes.




I know I posted some random photos here and there, but I will proceed to dump my reference photos, starting with Fang in usage. Later on I will go back to do Type 65 and even earlier OD stuff, and maybe Jieitai eventually.
I'll try to put notes above photos that have something interesting or peculiar.

Enjoy!
-Nate

(LTC) David A. Crittenden is welcomed by LTC Masao Nagasaka, executive officer, 1ST Infantry Regiment, 1ST Division Japanese Self Defense Force





(SSG) Danny Bess, left, Company C, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, examines a Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force 84 mm recoilless rifle during Exercise NORTHWIND '87





1ST Infantry JSDF, stage a ceremonial battle for soldiers of the 1ST Brigade, 25th ID, during the concluding activities for Exercise ORIENT SHIELD '85




Some armor, including Type 61's and 74's


























The only known photo of allegedly an experimental pattern.





Exercise Northwind '87





Airborne training, 1982






The old Type 58 uniform






























































































































These last two are an airsoft player but demonstrate the typical full loadout of the time





And that's about all I have for now.
Enjoy!
-Nate

Great group of photos..


Thanks for all the work..


S

Somewhat recent acquisition, a JGSDF Jieitai camouflage armor crewman's/tanker coat. PX purchase version naturally, but used.
Surprisingly not too different from the normal Type 2 coat. I'm assuming this is an older issue with the button cuffs, I'd guess newer ones have velcro but I don't know for sure.

A bit of background for JGSDF armor units, just gonna copy/paste from one of my previous reviews on a FB group:
Japanese armor vehicle crewman are each issued a Type 89 rifle, Type 88 kevlar helmet which they must wear when dismounted, in addition to their crewman's helmet, and a basic kevlar Type 2 or 3 vest and/or webbing set with a mag pouch or two, canteen, and bayonet, occasionally other things but usually bare minimum. The idea being if they are forced to dismount in the field, by wearing the standard infantry helmet, web equipment, a similar looking uniform, and wielding a regular rifle they will look like normal infantry and not draw as much attention on the battlefield. I've noticed a similar doctrine with the Taiwanese armor units. Japanese tankers used to have M3 Grease guns, but I don't think they have them anymore. They also occasionally have Minebea 9mm handguns worn on chest or shoulder holsters.

Instead of button waist tabs, it has an interior drawstring waist, as well as a sweat shield. It also has interior integrated belt loops to run the trouser belt through to attach the coat to the trousers to prevent trouser sagging and coat riding when crawling in and around a cramped armored vehicle. The back/arm gussets end at the end of the stitching across the back instead of underneath the epaulet on the normal Type 2 uniform, and the epaulets on the tanker coat are longer.

The most visible difference is on the back; rather than the two angled 4-loop foliage slots on the normal coat, the tanker coat has a thickly stitched strip of fabric on the back that is open in the middle, acting as a bailout/extraction handle for pulling a dead or wounded crewman out of the vehicle. Besides this, the coat is identical to the normal Type 2 coat in terms of cut, pockets, cuffs, collar, etc.,. And since tankers often are wearing vests or webbing when dismounted, it's very hard to tell at a glance the tanker uniform from the normal infantryman's.

I don't have the trousers to compare to the normal Type 2 uniform, so we'll have to wait and see if they have any differences, if there are any. It's possible they simply wear normal trousers, it certainly looks that way from photos anyway. From photos and others' collections I've seen, it also appears that there is no armor crewman's variant of the older Type 1 Fang or "OPFOR Fang" camouflage uniforms, or OD Type 65 era uniforms for that matter. It seems they never went the way of coveralls for tankers. But there are aircrew versions of each pattern of uniform that are much easier to ID with their zippered pockets.

These are issued to all crew members of armored vehicles including tanks such as the Type 10 and 90, APCs and IFVs like the Type 73, 89, and 96, MLRS, SPAs, SPAAGs, Mine clearers, bridge layers, ARVs, C&C vehicles, Recon cars, NBC vehicles, etc.,.

To conclude; only slight differences, yet significantly harder to find and slightly more valuable than normal Type 2 and 3 Jieitai uniforms. Hope this helps for any of you who might come across more in the future.



Front. Apart from the light wrinkling from the waist drawstring, it looks just about identical to the normal Type 2 coat.




Interior, showing camouflage fabric belt loops that the trouser belt are run through, the sweat shield, and the interior waist drawstring. Also previous owner's name on ID tag.




Back, showing bail-out handle.




Highlighting handle vs. foliage loops between coat models. Also note fade difference in color.




The shoulder gussets on the normal Type 2 go all the way under the epaulets, where on the tanker coat they end at the bottom of the stitching for the handle.




Not from my collection, and I unfortunately don't have the original owner's links on hand, but for additional reference here are an 80's Fang camouflage tanker's upper ensemble, a Fang tanker's jacket (which were also worn by motorcycle couriers/dispatch riders, they mostly differ from the helicopter pilot's MA-1 jacket by point collar vs. rib-knit collars, respectively, otherwise they're pretty identical), and an old 1950's winter tanker jacket:








Hard to find good photos of them being worn that show the clear differences, but here's at least some armor crewman of the various JGSDF vehicles in their inventory throughout the decades, wearing OD, snow overwhites, Fang, OPFOR Fang, and Jieitai:






























































A couple of guys reenacting an old Japanese TV show depicting a pair of tankers, or perhaps it was an old animated military training film for tankers, hard to tell which.






And to finish, a fun little tidbit; prior to Dual-Tex, the Japanese experimented with this hand-painted block pattern on some of their armor vehicles, seen here on a Type 61 in 1973, but did not adopt it. Probably because it must have been hell to hand-paint on every damn vehicle, and to keep repainting.




Hope you enjoy!
-Nate

Fantastic score with the aircrew uniform. Really super nice find.


Great photos as usual..

Awesome catch!