Winter Working Jacket

[bestmsdt]

Would like some opinions on this jacket, in his Schiffer book Hewitt calls them winter working jackets.

It has the A and B stamps, and is a size 4 manufactured in 1942. It has had 3 name columns filled out. There is no sign of a type stamp. It is thickly lined and quite heavy with reinforced shoulders and elbows. There was a belt loop, although it has been removed.

Cheers,
Tony

[Type4]

Is a combat winter cotton tunic and from 1943 was substituted from a model simplified

[adachi]

Its a light winter model of the Type 98 tunic. There was a summer weight, wool winter weight, and this is a bit of a hybrid in between the two. They're identified by the unique shoulder seams and padding on the knees and elbows. They're mostly used in mainland Japan and China.

[Nick Komiya]

As explained in this article, all legitimate Japanese military uniforms must have a birth certificate signed either by the Emperor himself or by the Minister of the Army or Navy.

Let's demonstrate that principle, once again, by correctly establishing the credentials of this uniform jacket, as any author should have done. A work uniform, like the tanker's overall, has little influence on the national image projected by the uniform, so those things were established by an Army Ordinance. However basic items like the winter uniform jacket worn by enlisted men could only be introduced, revised and discontinued by an Imperial Edict.

So let's examine what Edict 392, of 31st May 1938, said about the material specs for an EM winter jacket. Remember that when this edict was issued, the China Incident had already exploded into a full scale war. So what you'll see is that they already foresaw the coming of material shortages in this edict and provided future leeway for making uniforms out of substitute materials.

Thus, visor caps, field caps and winter uniform jackets, all normally in wool, had a phrase added " or in Tea-Brown Cloth", which allowed alternatives such as cotton or felt to be used in future, as the situation required. They could not bother the Emperor with new edicts to sign every time an alternative fabric was used, so they fudged the material definitions to allow for any fabric.

This was how the, by now, familiar felt fieldcap could be introduced, and this was also the origin of the cotton winter uniform jacket.They could therefore also introduce cotton field caps and visor caps, if they wanted, so long as it was in Tea Brown Fabric.

The problem with these B-spec substitutes, however, is that they end up looking quite different from their woolen A-spec counterparts, and mixing them together in one unit creates a chaotically untidy appearance, totally against the spirit of the edict.

So it is time I show you again the spreadsheet that defined which units were to be allocated the felt field cap, another B-spec item. Next to the column showing the field cap is the cotton winter jacket. Soldiers in really cold climates ie "Manchuria, Sakhalin" as well as officer cadets were all to be issued A-spec woolen uniforms, while "China, Korea, Taiwan and inland Japan" units were to be issued the B-spec cotton uniforms. Therefore soldiers in Japan, Korea and Taiwan were issued these cotton winter jackets along with their felt field caps, while those in China were slightly better off with woolen field caps for their cotton jackets.

This spec was carried over into the Type 3 model jackets introduced in 1943, for which I show you the spec sheet drawings.

Once again, the Japanese Army was extremely bureaucratic and rigid in how they handled uniform regulations, so much so that many collectors fail to see the simplicity and clarity that it actually embodied underneath its complexity on the surface, like a clean mathematical formula. Those that fail to grasp this will continue to be misled by "authors" and "expert" collectors that just fudge up fake credentials, like "late war last ditch". "Pre-war first ditch" is more to the point as seen above.

[Nick Komiya]

For future reference, I will also tell you what other Ersatz items are in the 1939 allocation list. The winter jacket is followed by Ankle Boots in two specs, Jack boots in two grades, blankets in wool as well as cotton, experimental backpack (see backpack article) and cold weather parka in two grades (standard and lower quality).

[bestmsdt]

Thanks for your responses Type4, adachi and Nick. I had my doubts about the veracity of the 'winter working jacket' terminology, and your delving into the source documents, Nick, clearly highlights the actual facts. Thanks for your time on this, more excellent information!
Cheers,
Tony