Imperial Japanese Army

"For the honor of the Japanese Empire!"

- Imperial Commander at the start of Headquarters.

The Imperial Japanese Army (Kyūjitai: 大日本帝國陸軍, Shinjitai: 大日本帝国陸軍, Romaji: Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun), or more officially Army of the Greater Japanese Empire was the land force of Japan, created during the Meiji Era after reforms from the feudal system caused in part by the breaking of the Japanese isolationist policy, causing the downfall of the Feudal system as new ideas, goods and weaponry flooded the country. It enjoyed an era of dominance until its crushing defeat in World War II. It was dissolved in 1945. It is currently only featured in Call of Duty: World at War. Its naval counterpart was the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Founding
The Imperial Japanese Army was founded after the Meiji Restoration, which broke the Japanese isolation to the world. It consisted of former samurai and conscripted peasants. It participated in the Satsuma Rebellion, where it crushed rebellious samurai opposed to the modernization.

Sino-Japanese War
By 1890, the Imperial Japanese Army was the most powerful in Asia, and successfully challenged the Qing Dynasty of China during the Sino Japanese War, where the latter annexed the island of Taiwan after the war.

Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was a result of tensions between the two factions. The war ended with a Japanese victory although the Japanese Army suffered greatly due to overeliance on infantry

World War I
Japan was one of the Allied Powers during World War I. After the war, German territories in the Pacific Ocean were placed under Japanese protection by the League of Nations, including Peleliu, featured in Call of Duty: World at War.

Inter War Years
In the Inter War period, Japan experienced a great rise in militarism. Japan invaded Manchuria in China, its former ally from World War I, in 1931, following the September 18 Incident in which unknown saboteurs dynamited a section of railroad owned by the South Manchuria Railway Kabusiki Gaisya, a Japanese stock company. Japan sponsored the creation of new governments in China which backed Japanese interests. The Second Sino-Japanese War began in earnest in 1937, when small scale fighting which had occurred between China and Japan throughout the 1930s became a full scale war which became subsumed into the greater conflict of World War II at the end of the 1930s.

World War II
In 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army had fifty one divisions and various special-purpose artillery, cavalry, anti-aircraft and armored units with a total of 1,700,000 men. At the beginning of the Second World War most of the Japanese Army was stationed in China. However, from 1942 soldiers were sent to Hong Kong (Twenty-Third Army), the Philippines (Fourteenth Army), Thailand (Fifteenth Army), Burma (Fifteenth Army), Dutch East Indies (Sixteenth Army) and Malaya (Twenty-Fifth Army). By 1945, there were 5.5 million men in the Imperial Japanese Army.

The Japanese Army performed well in the early stages of the war. After 1943 they suffered from a shortage of supplies, especially food, heavy weapons, guns, tanks and aircraft, which was worsened by a long-standing and severe rivalry with the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was affected even more by submarine interdiction of supplies and losses to IJA shipping. The supply situation was so bad, large numbers of fighter aircraft became unserviceable for lack of spare parts and medicines were in such short supply, "as many as two-thirds of Japan's total military deaths resulted from illness or starvation."

Lt Gen Arthur Percival, led by a Japanese officer (center), marches under a flag of truce to negotiate the capitulation of Allied forces during the Battle of Singapore, on February 15, 1942. Throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army had gained a reputation both for its fanaticism and for its brutality against prisoners of war and civilians alike. After Japan surrendered in the summer of 1945, many Imperial Japanese Army officers and enlisted men were tried and punished for committing numerous atrocities and war crimes.

Several reasons are theorized for the especially brutal and merciless behavior exhibited by many members of the IJA towards their adversaries or non-Japanese civilians. One is probably the brutal behavior that they themselves experienced. The IJA was known for the extremely harsh treatment of its enlisted soldiers from the start of training, including beatings, unnecessarily strenuous duty tasks, lack of adequate food, and other violent or harsh disciplinary tactics. This was contrary to the Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors of 1882, which instructed officers to treat subordinates respectfully. Not until 1943 did the senior command realize this brutality had effects on morale and order an end to it, an order which was routinely circumvented or ignored.

In addition, IJA officers took more than their share of food when their men were starving, arranged transfers to safer areas, or simply deserted their men in action, while the spirit of gyokusai (literally "shattered jewel," used as a euphemism for "glorious death") saw them order suicidal attacks with knives, and bayonets, when supplies of hand grenades and ammunition were still available.

The reputation of Imperial Army troops during the Pacific War is borne out by a comparison to the European Theatre, in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) just over 1,000 surrendered in each of 1942 and 1943, around 5,100 in 1944, and over 12,000 in 1945, and might have been greater except for American shooting of prisoners. The effect of psychological warfare was noticeable (about 20% of surrenders were directly due to it, and many more were influenced), amounting to about one POW for every 6,000 leaflets dropped, while the Japanese objected to the "unscrupulous" leaflets, which expressly contained nothing but the truth.

Post War
The Imperial Army was disbanded after the war, along with the Japanese armed forces, amid protests from returning Japanese veterans. In 1954, the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force (JGSDF) along with the JASDF (air) and JMSDF (navy) were formed with the help of the United States to oversee the defense of Japan. Although significantly smaller and weaker in manpower than its World War II predecessor(147,000-160,000 for JGSDF compared to 5,000,000 of the Imperial Army), the JGSDF is a highly disciplined and trained force with close ties to the U.S. military that possesses high quality military hardware and have recently been deployed to Iraq as relief units. More recently, the United States has encouraged Japan to rearm and become a military power once again due to tensions between the latter and the DPRK (North Korea), but currently revival still seems uncertain.

Trivia
The Japanese soldiers are unique to the Call of Duty series, as they are the only enemies who are shown to have variable ranks. These can be seen by their collar insignia. 1 star indicates a Private Second Class, 2 stars indicates a Private First Class, 3 stars indicates a Superior Private, a single yellow line indicates a Lance Corporal, and all of the Japanese Officers are Captains, as indicated by their cuff insignia.

Equipment

 * Type 100
 * Type 99
 * Arisaka
 * Type 97 Rifle
 * Nambu
 * Type 97 Hand Grenade
 * Type 93 Flamethrower
 * Type 100 Flamethrower
 * Katana
 * Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun
 * Type 94 90 mm Infantry Mortar
 * Type 96 25 mm AT/AA Gun
 * 200mm Coastal Gun
 * Model 94 Isuzu truck
 * Type 95 Scout Car
 * Type 97 Tank

In Call of Duty: World at War, the Imperial Army is featured in the Pacific campaign.

Like the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare multiplayer, there are different character skins for each type of weapon their character uses. The Imperial Army bolt-action skin is a soldier wearing a ghillie suit composed of a camouflaged uniform and netted helmet covered with lots of leaves and natural foliage, and is arguably the most effective camo skin in Call of Duty: World at War. The rifle skin is a helmetless soldier wearing a standard uniform and a hachimaki. The SMG skin is a fully equipped paratrooper with a helmet over an officer's hat and a carrying case for a Type 100 SMG strapped to the chest. The shotgun skin is a fully equipped officer with an officer's hat. The machine gun skin is a muscular helmetless soldier wearing a standard uniform.

The Imperial Japanese Army seem to be the new zombie interest in Map Pack 2 in the map Shi No Numa (Zombie Swamp) called Imperial Zombies who crawl out of misty swamps with Hellhounds and traps. It could possibly be based on the level Semper Fi and the multiplayer map Makin.

Note: Officers in the game are immune to the anatomy based damage affect, so they won't be dismembered, even with the M1897 Trenchgun

Notable Members

 * Japanese Officer stationed on Makin Atoll
 * Japanese Private who killed K. Pyle
 * Takeo Masaki, a Japanese officer featured in Shi No Numa and Der Riese
 * Syôwa (Shōwa, known to many English speakers and mentioned in game as Hirohito), Emperor of Japan from 1926 to 1989 (sixty-four years), Supreme Commander of the Army and Navy
 * Tôzyô Hideki (Hideki Tōjō), General, Army Minister from July, 22 1940 to July, 22 1944, Prime Minister from 1941 to 1944, Chief of IJA General Staff from February 21, 1944 to July 18, 1944
 * Sugiyama Hazime (Hajime Sugiyama), Field Marshal, Army Minister from July 22, 1944 to April 7, 1945, Chief of IJA General Staff from October 3, 1940 to February 21, 1944
 * Anami Koretika (Korechika Anami), General, Army Minister from April 7, 1945 to August 14, 1945
 * Prince Kan'in Kotohito, Field Marshal, Chief of IJA General Staff from December 31, 1931 to October 3, 1940
 * Umezu Yosizirô (Yoshijirō Umezu), General, Chief of IJA General Staff from July 18, 1944 to September 1945
 * Usizima Mituru (Mitsuru Ushijima), General of the Thirty-Second Army at Okinawa
 * Tyô Isamu (Isamu Chō), Lieutenant General of the Thirty-Second Army at Okinawa
 * Yahara Hiromiti (Hiromichi Yahara), Colonel, operations staff officer for the Thirty-Second Army at Okinawa
 * Nakagawa Kunio (Kunio Nakagawa), Lieutenant General, commander of the Second Regiment of the Fourteenth Infantry Division at Peleliu
 * Hyakutake Harukiti (Harukichi Hyakutake), Lieutenant General, commander of the Seventeenth Army at Rabaul, East New Britain during the Guadalcanal Campaign
 * Imamura Hitosi (Hitoshi Imamura), General, commander of the Eighth Area Army at Rabaul, East New Britain during the Guadalcanal Campaign

Quotes

 * "Fight as one under the Emperor!"/"Unite for the glory of Japan!" - Japanese commander at the start of Team Deathmatch
 * "Your defeat has brought great dishonour to our nation!"/"You have brought shame to the Imperial Army!" - Japanese commander when Japanese faction is defeated during multiplayer
 * "We bring honour to the Emperor and all of Japan!"/"The Savages kneel before us in defeat!" - Japanese commander when Japanese faction is victorious during multiplayer
 * "For the honour of the Japanese Empire!" - Japanese commander at the start of Headquarters
 * "Make sure this is our only taste of defeat!"/"Fight on to restore your honour!" - Japanese commander when Japanese faction loses a round during Search and Destroy
 * "This is but the first victory! We must fight on!"/"Let's make this victory the first of many!" - Japanese commander when Japanese faction wins a round during Search and Destroy
 * "The Savages send dogs to do their work!"/"Enemy recon plane has found us!"/"Enemy artillery!" - Japanese Commander when Marine faction calls in selected kill streaks (Dogs, Recon Plane, Artillery Strike.
 * "Our Recon Plane will find them!"/"Our Artillery will force them in submission!"/"The Dogs hunger for the flesh of our enemies!" - Japanese commander when selected kill streaks are called in
 * "Fight on! Crush what resistance remains!/"DO NOT fear death!"/"It's not too late to claim victory!"/"Keep fighting! We CANNOT lose to these barbarians."/"We're almost out of time!"/"A chance for victory still remains!" - Japanese Commander near the end of the match.
 * "Their flag will soon be ours!"/"We WILL take this flag!"/"Keep fighting! We are capturing the flag!" - Japanese commander when Japanese faction is capturing a flag during War.
 * "Our flag is falling to the enemy!"/"Turn them back before they take our flag!"/"Our flag will soon fall to the Americans!" - Japanese commander when Marine faction is capturing a flag during War.
 * "The Americans have taken our flag!"/"Our flag has fallen to the Americans!"/"Our flag has fallen! We must fight to regain our honour!" - Japanese commander when Marine Raiders capture a flag during war.
 * "Perimeter secured! Get the next flag!"/"Flag secure! We must now take the next!/"We have claimed the flag! FIGHT ON!" - Japanese commander when Japanese faction captures a flag during war
 * "We have only one flag left! DO NOT LET IT FALL!"/"They MUST NOT claim our last flag!" - Japanese faction when Japanese faction is down to the last flag.
 * "They are weakening! Seize their last flag!"/"They are losing the will to fight! Secure their last flag!" - Japanese commander when Marine Raiders is down to the last flag during war.
 * "Bye Bye Sayonara (good bye)" -after a Japanese soldier gets a kill.
 * "Tennô heika banzai!" (means: "May the Emperor live ten thousand years!") - Japanese soldier(s) carrying out a Banzai Charge in Campaigns
 * "A draw is more shameful than a defeat!" - Japanese commander when a multiplayer round ends in a draw