abstract
| - The Nippon Teikoku Rikugun is the ground forces of the Japanese Shogunate, and the second largest branch of its armed forces. Although it is a proportionally small force in light of the country's population, the Imperial Japanese Army is backed by its powerful Navy and is used efficiently enough to be highly effective. Its primary arm, the Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai (Tokubetsu for short) is considered the foremost marine unit in the world due to the skill and resolve of its members. With the navy as the central branch of Japan's military, the role of the Army is purely in a support role. Ships, obviously, cannot go on land and so the Japanese are forced to make a military force able to handle these situations. Thus the infrastructure of the army is heavily dependent on that of the Navy, just not to the same degree as the air force. Even the members of the Army who do not act as marines, namely the UDF, still work very closely with the naval branch. Aside from the defense of Korea and amphibious assaults the primary job of the Army is to police the streets of the Tocaido Corridor, a huge urban area with a population numbering over 200 million that covers most of the Japanese Isles. Locations of importance to the government are usually protected by the UDF and the general police force of Japan is actually trained and reports to the Japanese Army. As well, in situation where crowd control is needed, something very rare in the Shogunate, the UDF troops will usually be brought in to remedy the situation.
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