During World War II, Imperial Japan was the world's most militarized
society, with a host of uniformed organizations supporting the war
effort in East Asia and the Pacific and ultimately tasked with defending
the Home Islands. Featuring full-color artwork, this book reveals
the organization and appearance of the military and civil-defense
forces that supported the Japanese war effort from 1937 to 1945.
From the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 until the
Japanese surrender in August 1945, a multitude of military and
civil-defense forces strove to support the Japanese war effort and
latterly prepared to defend the Home Islands against invasion. During
World War II, Japan was the world's most militarized society and by 1945
nearly every Japanese male over the age of 10 wore some kind of military
attire, as did the majority of women and girls. In this volume, Philip
Jowett reveals the many military and civil-defense organizations active
in wartime Japan, while specially commissioned artwork and carefully
chosen archive photographs depict the appearance of the men, women, and
children involved in the Japanese war effort in the Home Islands
throughout World War II.