Japanese Type 10 with its hydropneumatic suspension lowered.

Opinion on the Japanese Type 89 IFV?

Semi-related, opinion on urban camo schemes?

It's a good enough IFV, but too expensive to be practical, IMO. It's fast, has good armor, and an Oerlikon 35mm cannon, but only about 200 have ever been produced, and I'd imagine they're beginning to show their age, and are in need of an update.

Urban camo? Can be done well, can be done poorly. United States UCP? Objectively horrible, proven to have gotten soldiers killed. MARPAT? Pretty solid, continues the long-running trend of Marines using active combat as a fashion show. In the end, it's all about how well the camo works, and urban camo can be good for certain environments.

Tanque japonés, abatido por tropas norteamericanas, agosto del 42, guerra del Pacífico./Japanese tank, shot down by North American troops, August 42, Pacific War./米軍によって撃墜された日本の戦車（42年8月、太平洋戦争）。

Type 90s on parade in Tokyo, October 31st, 1993.

The Type 90 is Japan's third tank produced after World War II. Due to concerns about the T-72, the Japanese Self Defense Forces' (JSDF) High Command sought a new design to supplement its current main battle tank (MBT) at the time, the Type 74. Work on the new vehicle, named TK-X, was carried out by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the Japanese Technology Research and Development Institute. It uses a 120mm smoothbore gun, and is equipped with a 1,500 hp diesel engine. The gun is autoloaded, meaning reloading the main gun is done by a machine, and can be done in as little as a few seconds, impressive given the size of the shells!

A moment of compassion, during hell on earth.

U.S. Marine and combat cameraman Norman Hatch, gives a drink of water to a kitten who was hiding under a destroyed Japanese tank, during the battle of Tarawa on November 23, 1943.

(Photo courtesy of USMC)

Hayao Miyazaki's Daydream Data Notes (illustrated essays he contributed to the hobby magazine 'Model Graphix' in the 80s and 90s)

If anyone is curious about Hiro's whereabouts in my au, he's in Japan. He arrived on Sodor sometime after the Incident, and was infected by getting bitten on the boiler.

When he arrived back at Japan, he kinda became a Japanese folklore-monster there, associated with railroads. He spends some of his time hidden in the forests, as to not scare any civilians. He doesn't really mind his new look, but it took a bit of time to get used to, especially with all the new urges and instincts he had. In Japan, he's quite big there, with folklore documentarys talking about him.

Rumors go around that he's an omen of death if he's present around lone hikers, and some say he's an omen of good luck if he's around hikers, meaning the hiker or random person who encounter him will be blessed with good luck for the rest of their life.

Here's a screenshot of a clip from one of the documentaries :)

Koizumi Kishio

Senju Town with Storage Tanks

1929

FURUYA ROBIN and HASEGAWA MAKOTO for SEEK part 1 // part 2

(49s) 22.04.24

Rarely seen command variant of the Type 95 Ha-Go with an antenna on the turret.

Opinion on Type 90?

Ah, the Japanese Leopard.

All jokes aside, I call it that, but they're only superficially similar. (But I say it as a compliment).

The Type 90 is a very capable MBT, mounting an L44 from Rheinmetall, tipping the scales at just a hair over 50 tons, with a respectable modular armor package and a 1500hp Mitsubishi 10ZG.

It's got an outstanding power to weight ratio, with 30 hp per ton, well outside the 21-23 benchmark. This means that it is, to use a technical term: "fast as fuck, boi".

All in all, excellent tank.

Pop'n Tanks

This article is part of our Japanese Obscurities feature. We put out a whole book about them, which is available as both a full color hardcover and a Kindle ebook from Amazon! If you’d like to see more of these features, please check out the book and if you enjoyed it, leave a five star review so we can do a follow up with even more interesting, offbeat, or historically important Japanese games!

Pop’n Tanks features miniature vehicles called Puchi-Tanks, similar to the type seen in games like Metal Slug and anime like Dominion Tank Police. Taking place in a colorful, anime inspired world, various characters and their unique tanks enter a tournament, engaging in duels for mechanical supremacy. The artwork is provided by Mine Yoshizaki, the artist behind the manga Sgt. Frog. The whole game has an upeat, blue skies vibe similar to Mega Man Legends and Detana! TwinBee!, the latter of which had a manga adaptation that was also illustrated by Yoshizaki.

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