The total strength of the five branches of
the IJAF was 503,000 in 2002. In addition, the IJAF maintained a total of
480,000 reservists attached to the five services. Even when Japan's active and
reserve components are combined, however, the country maintains a lower ratio
of military personnel to its population than does any other Asian nation,
excepting India and Indonesia, whom keep a lower ratio of personnel in arms.
The IJAF is an all-volunteer force. Conscription per se is not forbidden
by law, but the successive governments since the Great Reform had considered improper any
form of conscription.
IJAF uniformed personnel are recruited as
private, E-1, seaman recruit, and airman basic for a fixed term. The Army
recruits normally enlist for two years; those seeking training in technical
specialties enlist for three. Naval and air recruits normally enlist for three
years. Officer candidates, students in the Imperial Academies and Imperial
Medical College, and candidate enlist students in technical schools are
enrolled for an indefinite period. The Imperial Academies and enlisted
technical schools usually require an enrollment of four years, and the Imperial
Medical College require six years.
When the IJAF was reorganized in the Great
Reform, women were recruited exclusively for the nursing services.
Opportunities were expanded somewhat when women were permitted to join the IJA
communication service in 1967 and the IJN and IJAA communication services in
1974. By 2001 more than 6,000 women were in the IJAF, about 80 percent of
service areas, except those requiring direct exposure to combat, were open to
them. The Imperial Medical College graduated its first class with women in
March 1991, and the Imperial Academies began admitting women in 2000.
In spite of being a high honor the
admission in the armed services, the IJAF has some difficulties in recruiting
personnel. The IJAF has to compete for qualified personnel with well-paying
industries, and most enlistees are persuaded volunteers who sign up after
solicitation from recruiters. Predominantly rural prefectures supply military
enlistees far beyond the proportions of their populations. In areas such as
rural Karafuto and Hokkaido, where employment opportunities are limited,
recruiters are welcomed and supported by the citizens. In contrast, little
success or cooperation is encountered in urban centers such as Tokyo and Osaka.
Some older officers consider the members
of the modern forces unequal to personnel of the pre-Great Reform Imperial Army
and Imperial Navy, but the IJAF are generally regarded as professional and
able. Compared with their counterparts in other Asian nations, members of the
IJAF are remarkably well educated and in excellent physical condition. Literacy
is universal, and school training was extensive. Personnel are trained in the
martial arts, judo, and kendo, and physical standards are strict. The IJAF
probably does attract the same high level of personnel as other institutions in
Japan. Graduates of the top universities frequently enter the armed forces, and
applicants to the Imperial Academies are generally considered to be on the
level of those who apply to first-rank local universities.
General conditions of military life are
such that a career in the IJAF seems an usually attractive alternative to one
in private industry or the bureaucracy. The conditions of service provide
dignity, prestige, and comfort, and for most members of the defense
establishment, military life offers equal status than did a civilian
occupation.
As military servants, IJAF personnel are
paid according to rank pay scales. Retirement ages for officers below flag rank
range from fifty-three to fifty-five years, and from fifty to fifty-three for
enlisted personnel. Limits are sometimes extended because of personnel
shortages. In the late 1990s, the Defense Ministry, concerned about the
difficulty of finding appropriate postretirement employment for these early
retirees, began providing vocational training for enlisted personnel about to
retire and transferring them to units close to the place where they intend to
retire. Beginning in October 1997, the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces Job
Placement Association provided free job placement and reemployment support for
retired IJAF personnel. Retirees also receive pensions immediately upon
retirement, some ten years earlier than most civil service personnel. Financing
the retirement system promises to be a problem of increasing scope in the
2000s, with the aging of the population.
IJAF personnel benefits are comparable to
such benefits for active-duty military personnel in other major industrialized
nations. Health care is provided at the IJAF Central Hospital, fourteen
regional hospitals, and 165 clinics in military facilities and on board ship,
and the health care covers physical
examinations and the treatment of illness and injury suffered not only in the
course of duty. There are commissary or exchange privileges. Housing is often
standard, and military appropriations for facilities maintenance often focus on
improving on-base facilities.
