The Knights of Bushido (1 Viewer)

[King & Country]

Hi Guys,

While working on our latest King & Country advert for some of our new items, in this case the additions to K&C’s WW2 Imperial Japanese Army, I was trying to come up with a ‘strong’ headline.

Then, I remembered a book I had read many, many years ago while still at school... ‘The Knights of Bushido’ by Lord Russell of Liverpool.

The book was a short history of the War Crimes of the Japanese during WW2.

I remember at the time how shocked I was by the brutality of the ordinary Japanese soldier especially against Prisoners of War and helpless civilians.

Since then I’ve read a lot more about Japan’s behavior during the war and actually visited the site of the infamous Thai / Burma Railway as well as other places associated with the war in the Pacific and South East Asia.

Living in Hong Kong for over 40 years I have also explored many areas and locations here and talked with veterans (alas very few still alive now) about the Fall of Hong Kong.

All of this history... the good, the bad and the ugly still fascinates and interests me today.

That’s just part of why history should never be forgotten... And why it still influences what King & Country produce today.

All the best,
Andy

​

 

[Horus]

The new Jap Light tank the Type 92 looks great Andy certainly adds more interest to the range ! :salute::

I too visited the Museum in Thailand some ten years ago and it left me feeling absolutely disgusted of the brutality and ill treatment by the Japanese to both the thousands of Prisoners of War and to the enslaved civilians from around Asia who died building the Railway for them in even far greater numbers still. Not something you can forget !

One of my Dads Uncles survived being a POW of the Japs and returned apparently a very much different man.

All the Best Andy and I will be looking out for anymore sneak peaks we might get of future releases.
Hopefully a Mule mountable 106mm and 81mm Mortar for the Nam range ! {sm4}

Steve

 

[villagehorse]

The command set and the new tank are most welcome Andy. Robin.

 

[Nicholas V Hall]

I have also read The Knights of Bushido and accounts of the Japanese invasion of China. They were unspeakably cruel and actually served the flesh of American aircrew as canapés at functions for senior officers. I quite understand the feelings of some veterans who would not contemplate buying a Japanese car. If I’m honest I would not want to buy toy soldiers in their image. Apparently they had no respect for anyone who surrendered although apart from a few fanatics they surrendered after the Americans dropped the bomb on them.

 

[WesternOutlaw]

Andy, I hate it when you release pieces like these. I had a wish list all worked out for the next several months but seeing these and the Japanese figures in June Dispatches just screws that all up. That 'Type 92' tank looks really cool, some more Japanese armor to go against the Pacific Sherman.

 

[Normandy1944]

I really like the new tank! and the Japanese soldiers. each set is a small Diorama on its own. After carefully studying the leaflet I see three more missing numbers. now I am curious what is on the other side of the Brochure?
But first I place a pre-order at my Toy soldiers shop!!



Harry :salute::

 

[Louis Badolato]

I have also read The Knights of Bushido and accounts of the Japanese invasion of China. They were unspeakably cruel and actually served the flesh of American aircrew as canapés at functions for senior officers. I quite understand the feelings of some veterans who would not contemplate buying a Japanese car. If I’m honest I would not want to buy toy soldiers in their image. Apparently they had no respect for anyone who surrendered although apart from a few fanatics they surrendered after the Americans dropped the bomb on them.

The Japanese committed just as many war crimes as their Nazi allies, yet were not subjected to nearly as many war crime trials after the war. I suspect it was because the United States government at the time wanted a strong Japan as a bulwark against the spread of communism in Asia. To the families of the American and other Allied servicemen who were murdered after capture by the Japanese, and the millions of Asian civilians raped and butchered by them, this fear of communism must have rung hollow.

 

[Warrior]

Poor Larry, recovering nicely from his surgery; seeing this flyer is going to set him back months...………….{sm4}

Very glad Andy/K & C decided to revisit this theater of operations, I remember the one year in Chicago when all the new Marines came out, I custom painted a TSSD Tarawa seawall set, used some of the K & C palm trees and make a cracker display, the Marines sold like wildfire at the show...……….well done Andy...…...keep up the great work.

 

[Mark IV]

I really like the new tank! and the Japanese soldiers. each set is a small Diorama on its own. After carefully studying the leaflet I see three more missing numbers. now I am curious what is on the other side of the Brochure?
But first I place a pre-order at my Toy soldiers shop!!



Harry :salute::

With this month's release I can only see JN059 & JN060 as only pending releases.

The Sherman and other Japanese tank are already released

Mark

 

[WesternOutlaw]

After carefully studying the leaflet I see three more missing numbers. now I am curious what is on the other side of the Brochure

Hi Harry,

I'm not seeing any missing numbers based on the following:

JN059 Type 92 Light Armoured Tank
JN060 Japanese Command Set
JN061 The Kenpeitai Officer
JN062 ‘BANZAI!’ Set#1
JN063 The Mortar Set
JN064 Kamikaze Anti Tank Bombe

JN059 & JN060 are not listed as "upcoming releases" yet; sure they will be in the near future.

Also see June Dispatches

 

[Mark IV]

Hi Harry,

I'm not seeing any missing numbers based on the following:

JN059 Type 92 Light Armoured Tank
JN060 Japanese Command Set
JN061 The Kenpeitai Officer
JN062 ‘BANZAI!’ Set#1
JN063 The Mortar Set
JN064 Kamikaze Anti Tank Bombe

JN059 & JN060 are not listed as "upcoming releases" yet; sure they will be in the near future.

Also see June Dispatches

On another forum Andy has indicated that JN059 & JN060 will:

"Probably July or August...When we produce the Ads we have to give to the magazines a couple of months ahead of publication"

Mark

 

[spartan71]

.. I got into this hobby, because of my Dad's stories about the war, namely the Pacific, on his young teen age years, under The Japanese rule, evading being found out that he was an American born in the Philippines and lived there all of his life in the Philippines, at one point he was living only a kilometer from The POW camp at The University of Santo Tomas and have seen astrocities, I also had an uncle that died at the Bataan death march... That and All of the stories he told, me. Made me inquisitive, of all the history that happened at that time..
My Mother and Fathers generation, will never forget what happened and has never forgiven the Japanese.. And I understand, but I could not really hate them.
I, one generation later, collects figures that is a possible snap shot, of that war.. So that maybe because It will always make me remember..

 

[Normandy1944]

With this month's release I can only see JN059 & JN060 as only pending releases.

The Sherman and other Japanese tank are already released

Mark

yes Mate you are absolutely right. I think I'm so surprised to see the new Type 92 'Tank that I had, A black out! sorry guys for this misunderstanding! but I love the Pacific series so much! I want to Thanks to all the people of the whole King & country company for this fantastic hobby.


harry

 

[King & Country]

yes Mate you are absolutely right. I think I'm so surprised to see the new Type 92 'Tank that I had, A black out! sorry guys for this misunderstanding! but I love the Pacific series so much! I want to Thanks to all the people of the whole King & country company for this fantastic hobby.


harry

THANKYOU HARRY, happy to oblige.
All the best and happy collecting!
Andy.

 

[Guest]

The Japanese committed just as many war crimes as their Nazi allies, yet were not subjected to nearly as many war crime trials after the war. I suspect it was because the United States government at the time wanted a strong Japan as a bulwark against the spread of communism in Asia. To the families of the American and other Allied servicemen who were murdered after capture by the Japanese, and the millions of Asian civilians raped and butchered by them, this fear of communism must have rung hollow.

Might have also been because there were fewer of them left? Fewer of them surrendered or were 'dealt with' insitu as the geographical spread of the conflict made it harder to collect evidence and in a way easier for summery justice. Plus there could also be a cultural issue as it was white Western European men who did it and there was more outcry as they were from the same cultural background as the Western Allies, finally lets remember the Allies prosecuted those people they wanted too and not only did not prosecute the ones they needed but rewarded them, hundreds of them, two most high profile were Von Braun and Kurt Debus, the first director of NASA's Kennedy Space Centre.

Great book to read on Western Europe at the end of the war and consequences which still affect people now is​

Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II by Keith Lowe.​

 

[Guest]

I have also read The Knights of Bushido and accounts of the Japanese invasion of China. They were unspeakably cruel and actually served the flesh of American aircrew as canapés at functions for senior officers. I quite understand the feelings of some veterans who would not contemplate buying a Japanese car. If I’m honest I would not want to buy toy soldiers in their image. Apparently they had no respect for anyone who surrendered although apart from a few fanatics they surrendered after the Americans dropped the bomb on them.

I see where you are coming from, I remember reading the Rape of Nanking and other text, plus books such as Ordinary Men about the death squad in Russian in WW2. Truly shocking and must be told so further generations cannot forget. Choosing which soldiers to buy and which not to buy is a personal conscious choice. there were many atrocities in all conflicts, having SS or Nazi flags or Nuremburg rally diorama upset people, I know people who do not like them but are perfectly willing to buy The Real West and the Vietnam War Range, conflicts which are not without there own atrocities.

 

[StanleyStanley]

The new Jap Light tank the Type 92 looks great Andy certainly adds more interest to the range ! :salute::

I too visited the Museum in Thailand some ten years ago and it left me feeling absolutely disgusted of the brutality and ill treatment by the Japanese to both the thousands of Prisoners of War and to the enslaved civilians from around Asia who died building the Railway for them in even far greater numbers still. Not something you can forget !

One of my Dads Uncles survived being a POW of the Japs and returned apparently a very much different man.

All the Best Andy and I will be looking out for anymore sneak peaks we might get of future releases.
Hopefully a Mule mountable 106mm and 81mm Mortar for the Nam range ! {sm4}

Steve

The Japs? Are you from the past?

 

[King & Country]

The Japs? Are you from the past?

No, but the figures and vehicles are.
Andy.

 

[hotel3alpha]

All,

When I was in the service I had an NCO who was Japanese and had a tattoo on his arm that had the Japanese Attack Flag and "JAP" written under it. He was proud of his heritage and a hard working/drinking NCO in our flight. One time during an exercise he had his shirt off cooling down and our commander came up on and was outraged over the tattoo. Apparently, he took it a major slur and insult coupled with the fact that his wife was Japanese.

The NCO's response: What do you want me to do sir? Cut it off?

The commander was fuming and left in a huff and puff.

Every war movie I watched as a kid had the word "Jap" in it and even my old man referred them as Japs, so when I saw my NCO's tattoo I didn't think anything of it. But, yeah I guess its a term from the old days to describe "the enemy". When I was stationed in Japan, I had some fellow soldiers who hated the Japanese. Some of my buddies harbored hate for them not only from relatives they had in World War II, but my buddies from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Detroit hated them for ruining the car and steel market. That was 30 years ago and I think times have changed, but man there was some seething hate amongst guys my age.

I was a little bliss to all of it, because I wanted to go to Japan, serve and train there. I made lots of friends in Japan and some of them were older who were kids during the war. They starved during the war and lost lots of family members due to famine, disease and of course the war. There reason why is because everything went to the war effort and the only thing that mattered was the Japanese solider. Who were not only revered, but feared.

Then one day I went into the base bookstore and picked up a book named Unit 731 and after reading that book the atrocities of the Japanese experiments on soldiers and civilians I was sick to my stomach. That book spurned a whole host of reading into the subject and films too. However, I have not read The Knights of Bushido and just bought it on ebay after reading Andy's post.

Later on, I had the unique opportunity to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial down south. That visit changed my life and that particular memorial showcased some of the most horrendous 1:1 scale dioramas I have ever seen. Likewise, they have a collection of clocks that stopped in time when the bomb hit. I think it was 8:10 AM. After visiting the memorial I had mixed feelings of use of nuclear weapons, yet trying to square brutality of the war with Japan that had no end. It was a feeling of they got what they deserved, but did anyone or any country deserve such an end? Don't get me wrong I definately know the Japanese soldiers committed horrific mass murder to civilians and service members and the idea of invading Japan was a daunting and costly endeavor for the United States. But, to this day they still are the only country to suffer a nuclear detonation on their homeland...twice and thank god it has not happened again.

I, on the other hand loved my time in Japan and spent almost 9 years there. I speak the language (I get rustier every year) know the customs and immersed myself in the culture. It is a humble country that continues to get hammered with disasters like Fukushima, but they do have a fighting spirit less the samurai swords. However, there are still remnants of bad blood still lurking around as I will never forget a stare I received from an elderly Japanese man on a train once. His stare was so uncomfortable that behind his eyes had to be hate for me. Maybe I reminded him of a GI who killed his buddy, maybe I reminded him of GI who he surrendered too. I don't know but I have never been looked at with such hate in my life and to this day I can still remember him staring at me through the top of his horn rimmed glasses.

John from Texas

PS: I found out last year that my grandfather served on Tinian Island in the Pacific during World War II...yup the same place were the Enola Gay left to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

 

[Horus]

The Japs? Are you from the past?

Yes and live in the present and God willing. will be exploring the future tomorrow !^&grin

Steve