# Has Japan had any military deaths since WWII? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 12, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-japan-had-any-military-deaths-since-wwii/838578 "2019-08-12T20:57:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cjackson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@cjackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjackson)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-japan-had-any-military-deaths-since-wwii/838578/1 "2019-08-12T20:57:16Z")
I’m not talking accidental deaths in training, or other freak accidents. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-japan-had-any-military-deaths-since-wwii/838578/2 "2019-08-12T21:15:22Z")
Though not particularly well known, Japan provided minesweepers during the Korean War. [At least one Japanese sailor](http://hiramayoihi.com/yh_e_papers_sweeper.htm) died as a result of an exploding mine. While I can’t say for sure how the Japanese would have classified that, the US military would have (rightly) defined that as a combat death. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-japan-had-any-military-deaths-since-wwii/838578/3 "2019-08-12T21:36:39Z")
Depending on what you consider military deaths - 35 members of the SDF died while deployed to Iraq for “reconstruction and support,” comprising 16 suicides, 7 illnesses and 12 unknown/accidental. ([Japanese language cite](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%87%AA%E8%A1%9B%E9%9A%8A%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A9%E3%82%AF%E6%B4%BE%E9%81%A3)) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-japan-had-any-military-deaths-since-wwii/838578/4 "2019-08-12T21:38:27Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Though not particularly well known, Japan provided minesweepers during the Korean War. [At least one Japanese sailor](http://hiramayoihi.com/yh_e_papers_sweeper.htm) died as a result of an exploding mine. While I can’t say for sure how the Japanese would have classified that, the US military would have (rightly) defined that as a combat death. The [Wikipedia entry on the Korean War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War) lists 79 dead for Japan (in the summary table on the right hand side of the page), but I don’t know specifics on those. [This article](https://apjjf.org/2012/10/31/Tessa-Morris-Suzuki/3803/article.html) notes that a number of Japanese fought in Korea, apparently under U.S. command, though they also apparently did so without the approval of the Japanese military or government. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-japan-had-any-military-deaths-since-wwii/838578/5 "2019-08-13T17:04:08Z")
A few of the infamous ‘holdouts’ were killed, usually by local authorities, but a handful by Allied hands in the years immediately following the surrender. Not sure if that is what the OP was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-japan-had-any-military-deaths-since-wwii/838578/6 "2019-08-13T17:12:45Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Depending on what you consider military deaths - 35 members of the SDF died while deployed to Iraq for “reconstruction and support,” comprising 16 suicides, 7 illnesses and 12 unknown/accidental. Wow, that is a high percentage of suicides.