One of the things that really attracted me to WW2 airsofting was the idea of doing some sort of Pacific loadout. Me being me, I always find the bad guy more attractive to play, and for the pacific theatre, thats japanese.
Obviously, being a white caucasian male, i'll never get it 100%, but i've seen loads of westerners play VC and they look quite good. 
Kit wise, I'd imagine japanese kit is next to impossible to get hold of, therefore I recomend building a list of suitable stand-ins and modifications. An early idea was the soviet M88 BDU, which is tan, or british army no.2's dyed tan.
Weapons are also difficult, although the Arisaka rifles were based on on the mauser action and can porbably be fabricated with some effort. there is also a hideously expensive verion available from KTW.
The other one is the type 99 (?) submachine gun, this will have to be scratch built although It shouldn't be too hard.
I think subtle touches like swords and home made badges will help the illusion.
Some basic uniforms to get started:
I didn't find anyhting like this elsewhere in the forums, so I hope i'm not duplicating anyhting. I think if we can get 10-20 jap kits togetrher, it may well be worth organising a game.
We have briefly discussed the idea of a far eastern game and theres quite a few of us who fancy trying it. However since most of us (certainly the axis players) would need to get completely new kit for it so we would all need some time to prepare. I think it was decided next year may be the year to give it a go.
So far I think only one member,Storm56, has any Japanese kit but he has helpfully pointed out one good site for sourcing it;
It looks like you should be able to put together a pretty complete loadout for around £200-250.
I think personally it would be more than I'd like to spend for one game so I'd be looking for a look a like kit too. Russian cold war kit seems like a good option to me, the He Be uniform from the 70s looks pretty close to me.
Weapon wise they are a bit lacking but there is the Tanaka Type 38 & 99s but there not so cheap either, or that easy to get hold of. I'd say that any captured allied weapon or ex-chinese mausers would be acceptable though, along with a few gifted MP40s.
Like a lot of you, I don't have the cash to spend on a loadout I won't get to use very often, so my main idea was to produce a list of stand-ins and easy modifications players could do.
i.e for this guy:
British tan GS shirt- £4
Nutria brown SA trousers (available dirt cheap, will post links later) £8 imported
Belt order leather webbing with pouches - you're department- german webbing looks about right
Long bayonet (rubber) or samurai sword (toy!)- toy shops
Dyed tw@ hat or sprayed british mk.IV steel helmet (spary brown with enamel then varnish.) Tw@ hat £3 or helmet £10. Spray paint about £10 total
P.37 pack with webbing strap for strap. as little as £5 for post war stuff
mauser rifle (Japanese flag optional) £100, £5 for flag
Felt home-made collar tabs £2 for felt.
Total between £20-£142 if you have to buy the gun. Japanese lessons purely optional.
Was thinking next year anyway, we're losing the summer sadly.
-Matt
I can see where you are coming from Matt but it's going to be a very long term project as far as I can see.
I think I can say without fear of contraception CiA won't be running a Far East game next year. That's not to say you or others can't set up a game of course.
Why do I say that? Simplifying greatly: In the beginning there were just a hoard of 101st dotted about the country. We set up the Bulge game and gave players the incentive to buy German kit, so got a hoard of Germans to play the US. Good so far! Then we set up Arnhem and got together a hoard of Brits to play the Germans. Fab! The next three games capitalised on these three available player groups (many players crossing groups of course). So we try and push the boundary for Bryansk and set up a Russian game. A few players went for it but it would have been a very small game if it had been Russian Army only. We pushed our luck with the Sicily game, giving players a chance to go for Mediterranean Brit & German and Italian. Few takers.
Conclusion? The pool of WW2 players is VERY small relative to the critical mass required for multifarious kit. Asking players to kit up for yet another theatre would be a game too far IMHO. It's not to say the idea is poo, just that reality mitigates against it.
Indeed, that's always the problem with a niche withing a niche. It's probably worth shelving this for now then resurrecting it if interest (ever) picks up.
Cheers,
matt
Heh, that's the wrong attitude! If you think it's worth doing then get others interested - if you shelve it it definitely won't happen, ever.
At the moment AFAIK there are two Brits and one US with Pacific/Far East kit so that's two Brits for a Burma game, one Yank for a Pacific game. No opponents though...
So, keep talking, drum up interest...
For some reason the 'enemy' doesn't grab people with scenarios so far from home. I play NVA in Vietnam games and have found that most people that play VC don't know or care anything about that side of the story except it's cool to shoot the GIs. Which is OK for an airsoft game but not enough to sustain a community - the Vietnam scene is distinctly lopsided. Quite unlike WW2 where lots of people are interested in the non-Allied story (and as it happens 'sides' for games even themselves out, by and large).
Well, I suppose the best start is to see who posts interest here, and in the other pacific theatre threads, and see about numbers. I'd imagine organising a small cell of very interested people, then expanding from that would be good.
I wasn't too inclined to give up, I just wasn't entirely sure what you meant - and i'm still debating myself whether it is worth doing - just testing the water to see what interest there is. On the other hand, my airsoft team started off as a small group of friends interested in the mercenary wars in the Congo (1964-7), and while the team itself hasn't grown, we have inspired about 5-6 people into doing similair things, without any effort put in.
So, if anyone has any interest in this, get posting here, we'll see about getting cheap, loadouts sorted then some undefined point in the future, maybe get a small game together.
Cheers for the advice, i'll see what I can do.
-matt
Edit: I know what you mean about Vietnam as well- i've never seen someone at an aiorsoft game dressed as VC (although I should admit i've never played a 'nam game). personally, the NLF/PAVN appeal to me far more than there reactionary and imperialist adversaries...
Conclusion? The pool of WW2 players is VERY small relative to the critical mass required for multifarious kit. Asking players to kit up for yet another theatre would be a game too far IMHO. It's not to say the idea is poo, just that reality mitigates against it.
Also, there are still far too few WWII weapons available. I would be very tempted to do Soviet, but I'm not prepared to pay over £600 for a Mosin-Nagant or a PPSh! Japanese - again, no weapons available yet. In fact, thinking about it, the only skirmishable affordable weapons we do have are the K98, MP40, Thompson and M1 Carbine - everything else people have made themselves - and all credit to them.
You've got nothing to ein, zwei, drei, vier
Indeed; I think for the more casual players, the guns you listed should be used as stand-ins; the mauser 98 especially, being a "generic" bolt action rifle, would make the best stand-in for the arisaka, then tommy guns etc can be used as "captured" allied weapons.
There is an arisaka available for a measly £300:
http://www.redwolfairsoft.com/redwolf/airsoft/ProductDetail?prodID=23792
but I think it'd be fairly easy to get away without it.
The whole thing's a longshot anyway, but I feel that's probably the best place to start - if and when my Lanchester gets made, i'll have a curved magazine made to go with it to turn it into a type99 of sorts.
We can also generate a list of appropriate stand in's and modifications to make the weapons look more Japanese if it comes to it. Like everything else with this though, it relies on drumming up some more interest first.
Cheers,
Matt
Talking of curved mags - have you thought about MP5 mags?
You've got nothing to ein, zwei, drei, vier
Just had a look at that, that could work very well. The type 100 mags have a similair curve, and the only obvious external difference is the groove in the mp5 mag (yay for epoxy!). What i'll do is put the feed mech from the mp40 mag onto the shell of the mp5 one, so it can use both types of mag. You could also use straight mags, as an MP-28/lanchester type weapon was used by the Japanese marines (see pic at start of thread).
It's the type 100/40 or 100/44 (late war model) by the way, not the type 99, so mistake on my part there.
This is the type 100 for those who don't know it:
cheers,
matt
Quick review of the uniforms wear by the japanese army in the Pacific during WWII
Many different uniformsL'uniforme
Vest :
vest officer:
trouser:
complet uniform (tropical....):
shirt:
Headgear T90, (there is also the headgear type 1918 )
Cap:
"portes chargeurs":
knee mortar pouch set:
bayonet frog:
for the grenad:
holster:
shoes:
the famous Tabi (Guadacanal...) , 14,95 $ on stewart military
canteen..:
"Guêtres":
Bag:
bag for the knee mortar:
"porte carte", exist a lot of version
some "brassard"
Entrenching Shovel:
SOME PLAYERs in France, the first OP pacific in our countrie is for next year [2009]
me
some uniform of the japanese airsoft group (all the uniform are not completed)
htt
For the airsoft gun
T99 and T38 [tanaka and KTW]nambu
knee mortar [ see on the shop redwolf]
T96 [KTW prepare one and T96 exist on this shop: http://translate.google.fr/translate?u= ... r&ie=UTF-8[/url] and here http://ngw.web.infoseek.co.jpT100 smg[http://ngw.web.infoseek.co.jp
If you have other question I am you man ^^
Les gears: http://www.atthefront.com/
http://www.nakatashoten.com/indexmenu.html
A very good shop
http://www.stewartsmilitaryantiques.com ... 4f79d9a344[/url]
A good shop
http://www.atthefront.com/
Good for the cap.
http://www.regimentals.co.uk/shop/shop.php
English but expensive
http://www.warrelics.com/Inventory.asp?id=g&subcat=%%
http://search.ebay.com/ww2-Japanese_W0QQfclZ3QQfcolZshipQ2donQQfrppZ200QQfsooZ2QQfsopZ2
Ebay of course
http://stores.ebay.com/Hamchans-store_NAKATA-Military-Reproduction_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ16050559QQftidZ1QQtZkm
item from nakata
http://www.hessenantique.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=114.
The bayonet...
Thankyou very much for that, I will be picking the first bits up at the military oddsyey this weekend, namely a cap, trousers, gaiters and hopefully some webbing.
-Matt
very interesting stuff
jap kit quality seems far better than i imagined 
"Take that you rotton helping of strawberry flan!"
Joseph Porta to "strawberrys and cream", in the sven hassel book ,ogpu prison
Join us...join us......
I was going to ask, what is the shirt the guy is wearing in the picture I enlarged? Are thery available as replicas as well?
I went to the military oddysey today, and talked to a guy who did Japnese re-enactment, and to be honest, i'm going to drop this. I think the main issue is representing a nation that committed horific war crimes; thats really not me. Thats not to say i think the rest of you who do german stuff are evil, it's just it really makes me uncomfortable.
Also, I get the impression the cost will be very high, and as I can't see a Japanese scene really taking off in the UK, I don't think it's really worth the time or effort.
If people do decide in the future to do this, I will get involved though and render any assistance If I can.
Cheers,
Matt
There's always British or US loadouts to choose from.
thats what i'm beginning to think about 
wow this is very nice guys hahaha and I really like the look of the tanaka type99
I could be an a luftwaffe ace you know?..........................................................................Die Unsichtbare Waffe!
