If there is a soldier that scares me from World War II this is the Japanese soldier. They fought to the last man usually. When an American GIor a German Landser would surrender the Japanese soldier would keep fighting and that's seen in the heavy losses they always suffered and how little was the number of prisoners of war their enemies could take. And today I bring you minifigs that represent those brave men. The Japanese army isn't represented very often in Lego either the Pacific front gets the recognition it deserves sadly but I would say some here are one of my favourite minifigs from the ones I did so far over the years.
To start this post the first minifig is the Japanese standard soldier. I made 3 of them. The Japanese army had tropical uniforms and winter uniforms that won't be represented here because I didn't find the proper parts to do them. Because shortages there were variants in the Japanese uniforms but tan and specially dark tan seems the best color to represent them. I also want to mention that you may find some heads a mistake since they don't look Asian but LEGO has done very limited ones over the years so I had to use the "normal" ones I could use for any other minifig.
This first minifig consists of a full dark tan body. Torso and cap are from AliExpress. Same for the neck flaps you will see in this post. The gear is from Brickwarriors and I hand painted it myself. The rifle is an Arisaka from BrickArms also hand-painted by me.
Now with the Japanese steel helmet from BrickArms too.
Now a variant using tan parts. The torso is from UnitedBricks from like 10 years ago so sadly they don't sell it anymore. Cap is from AliExpress. Legs are hand painted too. Arm is a CrazyArm by CrazyBricks.
Some reference pictures now.
The bayonet in the machine gun is very curious to see. Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Tau40K/comments/bozd04/this_is_a_bit_of_an_odd_question_but_im_gonna_get/
Next one is the "relaxing" soldier I did sometimes inspired by pictures of soldiers dressed not for fighting but resting or something similar. This one is inspired in the pictures of the Japanese soldiers marching at Singapore after it fell in their hands. Because army dressing rules it was forbidden but done sometimes anyway.
Next one is the tanker. Torso is from AliExpress and
rest is LEGO. This one is supposed to be the winter uniform. He really wants a Japanese tank in my collection.
Reference picture.
Source: https://www.cafr.ebay.ca/itm/364279976888
Time for the Japanese paratrooper. There were
several kind of paratroopers inside the Japanese Army. First of all
is important to say that the Japanese army was divided between the
navy and the rest of the army. The navy had it's own paratroopers and
planes and projects and so and the lack of collaboration between the
two parts for sure made them weaker. The paratrooper I represented
belongs to the unit called 1st Yokosuka SNLF (Special Naval Landing
Force) who took part in some drops at Celebes. If you want to know
more here there is more information about the
SNLF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Naval_Landing_Forces
I find very interesting these little drops the Japanese did in the
southern Asian front. Here is more info about the Japanese drops during the war https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2015/12/17/japanese-paratroop-operations-in-ww-ii/ Gun is a Type 100 SMG from AliExpress. Helmet
is a T90 Japanese helmet from BrickArms that I customized myself
cutting the lower part or "wing" and painting it dark gray.
Torso is like the hand-painted legs in Light Bluish Gray color and
has a Japanese pilot decal from Roaglaan Decals over it. Backpack is
from AliExpress also. The minifig represents a paratrooper ready to
jump. Head is from United Bricks.
The next one is a special soldier. I love this minifig. It's a Giretsu Kuteitai. They were chosen upon the paratroopers from the army and their (suicidal) mission was to land by force in United States airfields in the Pacific islands and damage and destroy as many bombers as possible. They were equipped with automatic weapons and many granades to try to cause as much destruction and chaos they could. Their uniforms were hand made and I suggest you read more about them because their story and the few raids they did are so interesting to read. I wish I can do a MOC with them in the future! A similar unit was the Takasago Volunteers chosen inside the indigenous Taiwanese soldiers the Japanese army had.
The minifig itself uses gear from AliExpress same as the gun and the body and the cap. The head is from Citizen Bricks.
Now it's turn for the Japanese pilot. The torso is the most interesting part. Surprisingly it's from LEGO and I think fits very well in this minifig. It's Item number is 973pb4517c01 if you want to search at Bricklink. Maybe the back part creates me some doubts but anyway I really like it. Headgear is from Brickwarriors hand-painted by myself like the legs.
Finally we have the last minifig which represents a soldier in Manchuria in the early 1930s. It is not very known but the Japanese started their WW2 years before it oficially did in Europe. China was their main objective during the 1930s even there were some problems with the Soviets too. The cap (from AliExpress) gives it an older look. Some third-party brands sell better caps. They are made for Soviet soldiers but it still works for Japanese soldiers.
Reference picture. The one in the right. Source:
https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/381257924684672306/
The guard at Tokio and I guess some other units still had this cap
Japanese soldiers from the early years of the past century using the cap shown above.
Thanks for reading guys. Here is a video showing all the minifigs where you can see each one of them in a short 360º clip.
If you want to know more about Japanese uniforms I suggest you this YouTube channel I found out months ago. You will enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/@hattorihan7503
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