>>6612757A big thing a lot of people don't realize when they think about jap tank design is how they used them and the location of usage. Had japan been fighting out in the open fields of Europe than they would have adapted designs similar to soviet and western tank designs. However for fighting in undeveloped parts of china and on dozens of tiny islands in the pacific a much smaller easier to transport and recover once it inevitably got stuck design was far more practical. Second take into account what japan was fighting when the tanks where designed at the time the japs where fighting the nationalist and communist in china with the occasional border skirmishes with the soviets. In these such engagements infantry support tanks and light tanks with adequate anti tank capabilities was more than enough as the most dangerous things the jap forces would see consisted of chinamen with molotovs soviet anti tank guns various t-26 and BT tanks and the occasional t-28. A tiger or panther may sound like a great leg up on the enemy but when you already have them out matched why bother with the trouble to maintain something so complex when a ha-go will do nicely. Of course I'm only accounting for pre 1944 jap tank designs as they did start to develop tanks that would have been on par with there competition just not up to the same numbers that even germany could field
