Japanese Ground Self Defense Forces in 15mm

Despite the fact that the Japanese Self Defense Force has almost all the same capabilities of other nations armed forces, members of the JSDF are technically civil servants. Ask the Japanese about their Army and they'll tell you they don't have one. They will politely remind you they have a Self Defense Force. No Japanese soldier has fired a gun in combat since 1945 and efforts to change their pacifism have met with fist fights in the Diet (Japan's Parliament).



This stance has changed somewhat in recent history with the use of Japanese Peacekeepers in Iraq in 2004 and an increased hard line response to Chinese expansionist intent in the South China Sea. In spite of all this the Japanese Constitution is still very clear on the Japanese Military being only for defense.




Akira, Jin-Roh, Patlabor, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig are all Anime series that include the Japanese Military making a power play through a declaration of martial law or an outright coup. I'm sure there are many more examples that I'm not aware of. In each of these series the coup is always intended to be a big dramatic moment. As an American I never seem to find it to be so, but a Japanese audience probably looks at a coup or declaration of martial law as a reminder of their national humiliation at the end of the Second World War.



So I am building up my Japanese forces in miniature form to man checkpoints in case of martial law or to directly intervene in a scenario.



As a guide I used these troopers from Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig.They are equipped with a Futurized Howa Type 89-F with M203 launcher. I decided that the M-4 with M203 was a close enough match and used Khurasan Miniatures U.S. Modern troops. The Khurasan troopers turned out to be a little taller than most of my figures so I shaved off their bases so they would blend in a better.

I didn't want to spend too much time on these, kind of a basic paint job that took a few hours to complete. I did a few things to add some contrast over the screen version like using a lighter color for the fatigues and a light grey green for the weapon sling and helmet band. I have four Komatsu LAV's for them to ride around in and I also have a Type 90 tank I need to finish up that will provide some extra fire support.

Here is a closeup
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