Well I thought someone would answer but fine I will. A crash course into Japanese history first;
Ashikaga clan declines, Sengoku era emerges, Oda Nobunaga unites mainland Japan, he and his sons get assassinated, his general Hideyoshi Toyotomi rises and unifies Japan, invades Korea under Imjin war, dies during campaign, Tokugawa clan gets the support of eastern daimyo, civil war emerges between him and Toyotomis western daimyo, battle of Sekigahara happens, Hideyoshi loses, siege of Osaka castle occurs and Toyotomis entire family gets executed, 2 centuries of peace ensures as Tokugawa declares sakoku and closes Japan fearing Christian influence and possible arms sale for the western daimyo whom had their power diminished in the aftermath of Sekigahara, US ultimatum ends Sakoku in 1853, Boshin war occurs as a continuation of Sekigahara, western daimyo united under emperor wins swiftly thanks to Tokugawas reluctance, Japan rapidly modernizes, takes Korea and later Manchuria under its influence as Qing dynasty and Russian empire both decline. History repeats itself and this time Choshu and Satsuma clans assume the new interservice conflict the founders of the IJA and IJN.
It is at this point that your answer approaches. Japan while having the industrial capacity and population lacked both the oil and minerals necessary for its industry. Two approaches were developed, northern and southern advance. IJA focused on an aggressive policy towards China and Soviet Union with the aim of acquiring Siberias natural resources and establishing a buffer state between the respective nations. IJN on the other hand wanted to expand southwards to invade Dutch South East Asia to obtain Bornean oil as the navy and its air arm were largely dependent on US oil and aviation fuel exports.
Initially the IJA was successful from 1905-1938. This is reflected in tier 1-3 interwar Japanese tanks which are in fact infantry support first and anti-tank second and comparable with their counterparts. However, when Japan attacked USSR in 1939 it suffered a devastating set back as unlike 1905 Russia this time had the superior army and armor. This combined with slow progress on China and total US ban of oil and oil related products export to Japan led to a drastic shift in which IJA abandoned its northern advance policy and gave support to IJNs southern advance. This shows in tier 4-7 as most of those tanks and their weaponry were created 1943 and onwards as the navy obtained the lions share of military budget. The army and its armor simply weren't designed against Western powers but against China and USSR which prior to WW2 were suffering from instability militarily and politically. Japan couldnt focus on the issues at hand but that is for another post.
Tier 8-10 is post-war Japan and contrary to tier 4-7 all the tanks of this era are pretty good as US engines and ammunition become available. They have no armor which is reminiscent of the early Cold War era due to HEAT ammunitions overwhelming penetrative capabilities (at least on paper) against armor. Speed and high firepower makes up for that. The highlight of Japanese mediums is Type 61. It is the second best medium at tier 9 right after M46 Patton.
You play tier 1-3 as you please, tier 4-5 defensively, free xp tier 6-7 and passive-aggressively with heavy emphasis on camo and hull down at tier 8-10.
Edited by Pururut, 16 August 2020 - 10:29 AM.
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. I stopped playing them at tier vi as hated them so I’d agree they’re bad but then I’m not very good at the game so I put it down to me being rubbish but I now hope you’re right it’s the tanks...
