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Was gonna post these in my dump thread, but after reconsidering I realized there was far much information now available on JSDF helmets that wasn't before, at least in English, that would potentially get lost if I threw these in with the other threads.
Before anyone cements this post as fact, I'd like to call upon Double_Canister and the other members of the retro collecting channels of the JSDF.US Discord, if they are so inclined, to help guide me with some of the information, as I'm merely doing this as a way of assembling the following information, that much of it came from them. To my knowledge at the time of this writing, there's no real decent sources of English language information on JSDF helmets as it's quite the obscure category for Western collectors, so I'd like to make this thread as a gathering point for information and sources to help those fortunate enough to get their hands on any postwar and modern Japanese helmets, and those who are simply curious about them.
So without further ado, let's get started!
First up is a basic, well worn Type 66 shell, made by Kawasaki, dated "Showa 42" or 1967.
The Type 66, while being a fairly straightforward M1 copy, is distinctive in its larger, more downward pointing brim.
This one had a rough life; it's very rusted, especially in the crown to the point where there is a hole, and somebody hit it with a grinder.
There's several different sized stress fractures around the shell, two particularly noticeably large ones, especially in the rusted ring area around the outside of the shell.
Finally there's the brim, which looks like it had an open flame on it at some point, and the inside of the brim was so rusted I had to hit it with a copper wire brush to be able to read the heat stamps.
My guess is some serviceman used this to boil water or cook in, with a circular stand and everything.
I don't know if the "42" tape on the front has any significance, so I left it on just to be safe.
Here are some original spec sheets for the Type 66 that Double_Canister had found:
Notice the swivel bales; as others had noticed, it seems by around 1955 the Type 66's swivel bales were changed from a large US M1 type to these smaller types.
Unfortunately I'm not very familiar with the chinstraps. To my knowledge, the Nifco SR-20 chinstrap on this shell is a PX purchase item; the initial standard issue chinstrap for the Type 66 was a long "Kabuto" tie type, nicknamed after the same named Samurai era helmets, also found on the previous Imperial Japanese Type 90 helmets. The Kabuto chinstraps weren't particularly well liked, so a vast variety of private purchase model chinstraps were made available.
I can't exactly recall, but from photos it seems a *slightly* better hook type chinstrap with a sliding second loop acting as a chin cup replaced them sometime by the 70's, but there might have been variations or even different models issued throughout the lifespan of the Type 66.
Here's a display of several of the later type chinstraps:
As for the "Type 66" moniker, why they went for it I have no idea. Collector examples of Type 66s have been found to be dated as early as 1954.
It's said the reason for their creation was the discovery during the pre-JSDF National Police Reserve (NPR) from the postwar to mid-50's era, that US Military Assistance Program M1s and their liner/suspension system were too large for the typical Japanese male's head.
The Type 66 with its reshaped shell and newly indigenously designed lining and suspension system gave the newly formed JSDF a helmet that could both be properly worn by its forces, and still largely resembled the M1.
Besides Kawasaki, other known manufacturers of the Type 66 shells include Daido Steel and Kobe Steel.
Here's a liner I managed to pick up, unfortunately it's also a PX purchase one. It appears nearly 1:1 a copy of a US M1 liner; the issue ones have noticeably different suspension and lining, and are appropriately marked.
While the shells and their matching liners were considered gov't property and heavily regulated, the liners were (and still are to this day) often worn for work and training duty.
As such, many PX ones were made available to "save" the issue ones from being damaged or destroyed, as well as some PX liners having different styles of lining and suspension that the soldier might have preferred.
While most liners appear to be thermoplastic, some earlier ones appear to have been made of fiberglass. Also, some US M1 liners can occasionally be found mated to Type 66 shells.
I've seen some white gloss painted liners, and issue liners typically have either reddish brown or blue colored leather (possibly pleather?) sweatbands.
There were also airborne Type 66 helmets; their liners had a four point chinstrap and suspension assembly, as well as a nape pad, very similar to the M1C.
At least one airborne Type 66 shell had 5 foam pads glued to its interior between the shell and liner for shock absorption, though I don't know if that was standard or just a case of individual modification.
Here's a neat (not mine) double example of a fiberglass airborne liner, with 1961 dated suspension:
Double_Canister had a Type 66 liner marked for "JB", believed to be Japan (Nippon) Bakelite, and another collector had a 1955 dated JB liner overstamped by Sumitomo.
In 1955, Nippon Bakelite Co., Ltd. had merged with Sumitomo Synthetic Resin Industries, Ltd. to found Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd.
At this time I'm not sure what other manufacturers for the liners there were/are.
Later, I managed to pick up a PX net, band, and Type 1 "Fang" camouflage cover for it.
I'm not sure exactly how to tell between the issue nets and PX ones. This net is of the common type seen from the 60's onward, while early nets from around the 50's had very large holes compared to these ones.
The issue helmet bands have 3 very large metal hooks that hook downwards onto the brim and rear of the helmet.
In addition to this band, a large variety of PX and field made bands can be seen being used, including inner tube ones, as well as US M1 bands and early Type 88 camouflage bands by the late 80's and into the 90's as the transition to the Type 88 helmet occurred.
While I have yet to see a Japanese made band with cat eyes, I have seen some photos from the 80's of some SDF personnel sewing singular cat eyes to the rears of their helmet covers.
Note the binder clip I added for portrayal purposes; in some photos and collector examples, some SDF members can be seen clipping binder clips to the rear of their helmets to help hold them together and prevent rattling.
Later I found an original 1987 dated Fang cover. The PX one has solid-colored chinstrap slot reinforcements, less stitching around the edge, dark brown tie strings, brown grommets, and a black interior edge trim.
The PX cover also has no markings while the issue cover has noticeable threads sewing the tag on, visible on the rear of the helmet when worn.
Early Fang covers were of a 6-panel construction. While I'm not sure when they were first made and issued, it is believed sometime around the early 70's this "double seam" version began to replace them.
Here's a couple of photos showing the early 6 panel fang cover. The second (cropped) photo from 1969 also shows the middle and right paratroopers wearing covers made of US camouflaged parachute material.
There were also Fang covers made for a short period for the Type 88 helmet, until the Type 2 camouflage pattern replaced it. Fang helmet covers can still be seen worn into the 2000's however.
Alternatively, there were also Type 2 camouflage covers made for the Type 66.
Some personnel in the 60's and 70's, particularly those in the 1st Airborne, made covers for their Type 66's out of US camouflage parachute material.
Others still can be seen with what appeared to be hand painted covers.
The SDF had their own "brown on light green" camouflaged parachutes, but I've yet to see any photos or examples of a helmet cover having been made out of those indigenous Japanese patterned camouflage parachutes.
There were also white covers and chinstraps made for snowy areas.
Interestingly, a lot of the covers have a single seam going down the middle like US M1 covers, they might even be US made white or painted over US M1 covers.
This photo from ORIENT SHIELD 85 is super noteworthy for many different elements of uniform and kit, but for the sake of staying on topic, I'll keep it focused on just the helmets.
Note the wide variety of bands being worn, some helmets are scrimmed, nearly all are netted, and there's at least three examples of both sewn-on single cat eyes, and three "binder clipped" helmets.
As for accessories, the SDF issued/issues a near copy of the US SWD goggles, but with a black band and without the "horns" on the foam.
For some reason, I have yet to find a photo of a regular SDF soldier wearing a pair who isn't a tanker or vehicle operator.
Private purchase goggles can rarely be seen, but for some odd reason the entire practice of regular infantry using goggles, even the paratroopers, wasn't a thing until around the 90's.
Whether this was from a fear of damaging or losing one's pair of issued gov't property goggles or some doctrine thing I have no idea, but not even paratroopers on jumps or during live fire exercises can goggles be seen.
I'm not positive on this, but to my knowledge during the Cold War personal night vision goggles and devices weren't in the inventory of the SDF, at least not for mass issue, so no NVG mounting brackets or devices for the Type 66 can be found. Only select personnel would get night vision optics mounted onto their weapons.
And with that, that's all I can think to cover on the Type 66 for now. Anything else I come up with I will add in subsequent replies.
In an upcoming reply, I will cover the JGSDF tanker helmets, or at the very least the early model.
In the meantime, everyone is more than welcome to share their own examples, information, ask questions, and all that good stuff.
I also have more than plenty of reference photos of Type 66's and different covers, bands, nets, chinstraps, markings, etc. if anyone would like to request more.
For now, enjoy!
-Nate
Before anyone cements this post as fact, I'd like to call upon Double_Canister and the other members of the retro collecting channels of the JSDF.US Discord, if they are so inclined, to help guide me with some of the information, as I'm merely doing this as a way of assembling the following information, that much of it came from them. To my knowledge at the time of this writing, there's no real decent sources of English language information on JSDF helmets as it's quite the obscure category for Western collectors, so I'd like to make this thread as a gathering point for information and sources to help those fortunate enough to get their hands on any postwar and modern Japanese helmets, and those who are simply curious about them.
So without further ado, let's get started!
First up is a basic, well worn Type 66 shell, made by Kawasaki, dated "Showa 42" or 1967.
The Type 66, while being a fairly straightforward M1 copy, is distinctive in its larger, more downward pointing brim.
This one had a rough life; it's very rusted, especially in the crown to the point where there is a hole, and somebody hit it with a grinder.
There's several different sized stress fractures around the shell, two particularly noticeably large ones, especially in the rusted ring area around the outside of the shell.
Finally there's the brim, which looks like it had an open flame on it at some point, and the inside of the brim was so rusted I had to hit it with a copper wire brush to be able to read the heat stamps.
My guess is some serviceman used this to boil water or cook in, with a circular stand and everything.
I don't know if the "42" tape on the front has any significance, so I left it on just to be safe.
Here are some original spec sheets for the Type 66 that Double_Canister had found:
Notice the swivel bales; as others had noticed, it seems by around 1955 the Type 66's swivel bales were changed from a large US M1 type to these smaller types.
Unfortunately I'm not very familiar with the chinstraps. To my knowledge, the Nifco SR-20 chinstrap on this shell is a PX purchase item; the initial standard issue chinstrap for the Type 66 was a long "Kabuto" tie type, nicknamed after the same named Samurai era helmets, also found on the previous Imperial Japanese Type 90 helmets. The Kabuto chinstraps weren't particularly well liked, so a vast variety of private purchase model chinstraps were made available.
I can't exactly recall, but from photos it seems a *slightly* better hook type chinstrap with a sliding second loop acting as a chin cup replaced them sometime by the 70's, but there might have been variations or even different models issued throughout the lifespan of the Type 66.
Here's a display of several of the later type chinstraps:
As for the "Type 66" moniker, why they went for it I have no idea. Collector examples of Type 66s have been found to be dated as early as 1954.
It's said the reason for their creation was the discovery during the pre-JSDF National Police Reserve (NPR) from the postwar to mid-50's era, that US Military Assistance Program M1s and their liner/suspension system were too large for the typical Japanese male's head.
The Type 66 with its reshaped shell and newly indigenously designed lining and suspension system gave the newly formed JSDF a helmet that could both be properly worn by its forces, and still largely resembled the M1.
Besides Kawasaki, other known manufacturers of the Type 66 shells include Daido Steel and Kobe Steel.
Here's a liner I managed to pick up, unfortunately it's also a PX purchase one. It appears nearly 1:1 a copy of a US M1 liner; the issue ones have noticeably different suspension and lining, and are appropriately marked.
While the shells and their matching liners were considered gov't property and heavily regulated, the liners were (and still are to this day) often worn for work and training duty.
As such, many PX ones were made available to "save" the issue ones from being damaged or destroyed, as well as some PX liners having different styles of lining and suspension that the soldier might have preferred.
While most liners appear to be thermoplastic, some earlier ones appear to have been made of fiberglass. Also, some US M1 liners can occasionally be found mated to Type 66 shells.
I've seen some white gloss painted liners, and issue liners typically have either reddish brown or blue colored leather (possibly pleather?) sweatbands.
There were also airborne Type 66 helmets; their liners had a four point chinstrap and suspension assembly, as well as a nape pad, very similar to the M1C.
At least one airborne Type 66 shell had 5 foam pads glued to its interior between the shell and liner for shock absorption, though I don't know if that was standard or just a case of individual modification.
Here's a neat (not mine) double example of a fiberglass airborne liner, with 1961 dated suspension:
Double_Canister had a Type 66 liner marked for "JB", believed to be Japan (Nippon) Bakelite, and another collector had a 1955 dated JB liner overstamped by Sumitomo.
In 1955, Nippon Bakelite Co., Ltd. had merged with Sumitomo Synthetic Resin Industries, Ltd. to found Sumitomo Bakelite Co., Ltd.
At this time I'm not sure what other manufacturers for the liners there were/are.
Later, I managed to pick up a PX net, band, and Type 1 "Fang" camouflage cover for it.
I'm not sure exactly how to tell between the issue nets and PX ones. This net is of the common type seen from the 60's onward, while early nets from around the 50's had very large holes compared to these ones.
The issue helmet bands have 3 very large metal hooks that hook downwards onto the brim and rear of the helmet.
In addition to this band, a large variety of PX and field made bands can be seen being used, including inner tube ones, as well as US M1 bands and early Type 88 camouflage bands by the late 80's and into the 90's as the transition to the Type 88 helmet occurred.
While I have yet to see a Japanese made band with cat eyes, I have seen some photos from the 80's of some SDF personnel sewing singular cat eyes to the rears of their helmet covers.
Note the binder clip I added for portrayal purposes; in some photos and collector examples, some SDF members can be seen clipping binder clips to the rear of their helmets to help hold them together and prevent rattling.
Later I found an original 1987 dated Fang cover. The PX one has solid-colored chinstrap slot reinforcements, less stitching around the edge, dark brown tie strings, brown grommets, and a black interior edge trim.
The PX cover also has no markings while the issue cover has noticeable threads sewing the tag on, visible on the rear of the helmet when worn.
Early Fang covers were of a 6-panel construction. While I'm not sure when they were first made and issued, it is believed sometime around the early 70's this "double seam" version began to replace them.
Here's a couple of photos showing the early 6 panel fang cover. The second (cropped) photo from 1969 also shows the middle and right paratroopers wearing covers made of US camouflaged parachute material.
There were also Fang covers made for a short period for the Type 88 helmet, until the Type 2 camouflage pattern replaced it. Fang helmet covers can still be seen worn into the 2000's however.
Alternatively, there were also Type 2 camouflage covers made for the Type 66.
Some personnel in the 60's and 70's, particularly those in the 1st Airborne, made covers for their Type 66's out of US camouflage parachute material.
Others still can be seen with what appeared to be hand painted covers.
The SDF had their own "brown on light green" camouflaged parachutes, but I've yet to see any photos or examples of a helmet cover having been made out of those indigenous Japanese patterned camouflage parachutes.
There were also white covers and chinstraps made for snowy areas.
Interestingly, a lot of the covers have a single seam going down the middle like US M1 covers, they might even be US made white or painted over US M1 covers.
This photo from ORIENT SHIELD 85 is super noteworthy for many different elements of uniform and kit, but for the sake of staying on topic, I'll keep it focused on just the helmets.
Note the wide variety of bands being worn, some helmets are scrimmed, nearly all are netted, and there's at least three examples of both sewn-on single cat eyes, and three "binder clipped" helmets.
As for accessories, the SDF issued/issues a near copy of the US SWD goggles, but with a black band and without the "horns" on the foam.
For some reason, I have yet to find a photo of a regular SDF soldier wearing a pair who isn't a tanker or vehicle operator.
Private purchase goggles can rarely be seen, but for some odd reason the entire practice of regular infantry using goggles, even the paratroopers, wasn't a thing until around the 90's.
Whether this was from a fear of damaging or losing one's pair of issued gov't property goggles or some doctrine thing I have no idea, but not even paratroopers on jumps or during live fire exercises can goggles be seen.
I'm not positive on this, but to my knowledge during the Cold War personal night vision goggles and devices weren't in the inventory of the SDF, at least not for mass issue, so no NVG mounting brackets or devices for the Type 66 can be found. Only select personnel would get night vision optics mounted onto their weapons.
And with that, that's all I can think to cover on the Type 66 for now. Anything else I come up with I will add in subsequent replies.
In an upcoming reply, I will cover the JGSDF tanker helmets, or at the very least the early model.
In the meantime, everyone is more than welcome to share their own examples, information, ask questions, and all that good stuff.
I also have more than plenty of reference photos of Type 66's and different covers, bands, nets, chinstraps, markings, etc. if anyone would like to request more.
For now, enjoy!
-Nate
