Unissued japanese uniforms

[douglas2496]

Hi everyone. I am wondering why there are so many unissued japanese coats, tunics and trousers around. I have various items for different climates and different war dates, all bought quiet cheaply. Bearing in mind the dire war production situation in Japan in the latter stages of the war, and the production of so much 'last ditch' equipment, isn't it very strange that so much uniform never found its way to the troops?

Doug

[sitges1990]

IMHO, the Japanese had over 8 million troops very scattered through out the pacific. Logistics were pretty daunting, even before their ships started getting sunk faster than they could build them. By 1944, they were having a hell of a time trying to get beans and bullets to them, let alone uniforms. In my mind, they probably kept producing uniforms long after they had no ability to deliver them to the troops.

[MAP]

Would agree. In addition, as Japan was not invaded, (besides the massive air bombardment of the cities) I would assume there was much less damages to stores. And then you had the Army of Occupation liberating all of these items. I think the majority of uniforms you see have insignia that has been added.

[douglas2496]

Thanks for the comments, I expect you are correct but it seems especially strange to me that there is such a range of dates, not just late war items. The items shown are all unissued with recently attached insignia and dated between 1940-45.

[TrondK]

douglas2496 has a point here.

I wonder how the reaction would have been if a same flow of pristine condition WSS uniforms suddently appeared on the marked...

[lithgow]

Like all major armies there were large war stocks of everything stored in different areas, especially those they had occupied for a long time like parts of China or SE Asia that weren't subject to direct combat or homeland depots-at the end of the war Allied troops souvenired pretty much anything that was there, remembering Commonwealth troops were not allowed to take firearms for personal possessions.

[Jareth]

There are still huge quantities of uniforms & field gear inJapan