Japan Air Force F-3 'Tengu' stealth fighter. While the post-war Japan Navy was restricted in terms of size and ship classes, the Army and Air Force were not subject to such restrictions. As such, and given their experiences with what happened following a loss of air support, Japan made a major point of investing in top-of-the-range interceptor and strike aircraft, something that would pay off considerably during the Ezo conflict. Japan has been manufacturing purely indigenous fighter aircraft since the 1980s, the Tengu being the most recent and advanced example of that.
Japan Navy
Yūshio-class diesel-electric submarine, setting sail on 03 January 1973 to take part in operations against Ezo. While the Japan Navy had been subjected to restrictions by the United States, the Japanese Admiralty had nevertheless made a concerted effort to build a force that, while lacking in quantity, had units with a solid
quality underpinning their design. The submarine pictured here,
Mochishio, more than lived up to that, sinking a pair of former Russian frigates that had been given to Ezo in the late 1950s. Now retired, the class has been superseded by more recent designs, most notably the new
Soryu-class nuclear attack submarine - made possible by the lifting of naval restrictions on Japan - but the
Mochishio has been preserved at the Kure Naval Museum.
Japanese aircraft carrier
Ryujo, taken in 2014. The first having been ordered in 1990, Japan currently operates three
Ryujo-class light carriers - originally built to operate the British-designed Harrier and later Harrier II, the carriers now operate air groups of 10-15 Mitsubishi
Hō-ō supersonic VTOL fighter-bombers (a joint programme between Mitsubishi and Lockheed-Martin - referred to as the F-35 'Phoenix' in America).