Looking for info on rations

[1942Arisaka]

This is sort of a direct copy of my question on Gunboards, so my apologies if you're seeing this again. I'm looking for information on how the standard ration changed for the average Japanese infantryman as the war progressed. I remember when reading A Tomb Called Iwo Jima, one of the mutual experiences among the Japanese they interviewed was the scarcity of food, and how one of them was extremely upset that as time went on the transport ships brought less and less food, until they didn't come at all and they had to resort to stealing from the Americans.

Has anybody here looked into it much? I would be interested to know how portions and variety changed. My research so far has shown me the composition of the rations up to mid-war, but not much beyond that. As a side note, I highly recommend that book.

Am I right in assuming that the food shortages would result in smaller portions being issued?

[Nick Komiya]

There are tons of testimonials here Visual Research Resources on Japan in WW2
In the Pacific islands where they were on the verge of starvation after supply got severed, they ate up all rats and moved on to anything that crawled.
The navy was often better stocked up with canned supplies, so the depraved army men raided navy positions at night to steal food and cigarettes.

[ghp95134]

Not to mention canibalism.

here
here

When they said, "We'd like to have you over for dinner...."

[1942Arisaka]

Thank you both for the insight and resources. Reading that book was definitely eye-opening to an aspect of war that I never gave much thought. Though, I guess my question is more oriented on: if a government supplied ration could make it to a soldier/sailor in the field, since they were packaged to be cooked by the individual rather than "everybody gets a scoop from the kettle", was the ration supplied a diminished size/quality compared to early war? I found some specs on how much rice, barley, fish, etc. was supplied early on and would not be surprised if the rations were smaller or certain items left out. It would be neat to find some official documentation, and I will certainly report back if I find anything.

[Nick Komiya]

Why don't you share with us what you know of mid-war rations as it stood on paper and I might be a able to match that with a later war cross section. So you want to know what they were supposed to get as opposed to what they actually got, correct?

[1942Arisaka]

Right, basically I'd like to know what they would get under the best of circumstances. Though in reality it seems the average late war soldier in a combat zone had to wish and pray pretty hard for a morsel. The most detailed resources on ration composition I have found so far are as follows:

Japanese Armed Forces Standard Rations

Captured Japanese Rations May be Eaten, Intelligence Bulletin, October 1944 (Lone Sentry) (This example being a July 1943 dated ration)

Thanks again!

[Jareth]

There was a book written in Japanese on rations. Same author wrote series of books on army field caps & another on haversacks. Unfortunately I can't recall authors name.

[Type4]

[1942Arisaka]

Thank you Jareth and Type 4 for the leads. Jareth, are those the books you were thinking of? If Google Translate is leading me in the right direction, the book in the first photo is sort of an abstract of all his books, and the second focuses on the meals of the Naval forces. Finding those books on Amazon, one of the suggested books is this one:

I think this one is mostly pictorial, but has a greater focus on the Army. Of course I should probably get both books and compare the Navy/Army. Or all three, can never have too many books! Could anybody familiar with these books make a recommendation?

[Jareth]

I think the top book on black background was the book I was referencing. I had remembered it differently without a color cover? Maybe another book? I never heard of the navy rations book! Might be interested in owning that one