
A lot has already been said about the arrival in Cape Town of the two training vessels of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) which, understandably but incorrectly, many folk refer to as the Japanese Navy.
A piece of historical education is that the Naval Forces of Japan were never known as the Japanese Navy, as Japan was an Empire until 1945, ruled by an Emperor, and as such was always known as the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN).
Following the surrender of all the military forces of Japan, at the end of the Second World War in August 1945, Japan was occupied by the Allies, and the Imperial Japanese Navy, along with the all other Japanese military forces, was dissolved completely. Japan no longer had a Navy of any kind. A new constitution was drawn up in 1947, where a new democratic Japan became an effective constitutional monarchy, with the role of the Emperor becoming purely ceremonial, with no powers related to Government, so removing the use of the word Imperial.
Within the new constitution of 1947, which is still active, sits Article 9, which states “The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.” The understanding of this Article is that it allows for Japanese military forces to be kept solely for the purposes of self-defence. In 1954, the JMSDF was formally created, as the naval branch of the Japanese Self-Defence Force (JSDF), following the passage of the 1954 Self-Defence Forces Law.
So those who write that it is the first visit of the Japanese Navy since the Second World War are also incorrect, as no Navy existed in Japan between 1945 and 1954, when the JMSDF only came into existence in 1954. This same error was repeated all around the articles that came out in the local press to highlight the visit of the training squadron in Cape Town. Even worse was a Cape Town radio show claiming that it was the first visit since 1918. Again untrue.
Between 1966 and 1998, vessels of the JMSDF have actually visited Cape Town, officially, on no less than 14 occasions. How might that be, one might ask? The answer is simple if you know your Antarctic history.
Japan was one of the founding 12 nations who signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, along with South Africa, and for their initial Antarctic expeditions to set up their ‘Syowa’ scientific station in Antarctica, they utilised the ‘Soya (PL-107)’ as their expedition vessel. The first six Japanese Antarctic Research Expeditions (JARE 1 to 6) utilised ‘Soya (PL-107)’, and every year she called twice into Cape Town, at the start, and at the end, of each expedition to Syowa.
Most folk assume that, even today, the Japanese Antarctic icebreakers are operated by JARE themselves, or by the Japan Coast Guard (JCG), similar to the American Antarctic programme. In fact, ‘Soya (PL-107)’ was operated by the JCG until 1962, but the long journey to Antarctica was considered too much of a burden for a maritime safety organisation that was focused on coastal security. At the time, it was becoming apparent that ‘Soya (PL-107)’ was underpowered, and too small, to conduct all JARE requirements, and a more powerful icebreaker was ordered.
Meanwhile, the JMSDF was seeking to improve its own public image, which resulted in the JARE Antarctic voyages being transferred from the JCG to the JMSDF in 1965. In this manner, the transportation of personnel and equipment to Antarctica became the role of the JMSDF, and Yokosuka Naval Base was designated as the home port for the new Icebreaker.
She entered service in 1965 as ‘JS Fuji (AGB-5001)’ and embarked on JARE 7. As a JMSDF vessel, all of the crew members were navy personnel, and she carried light arms, such as 9mm pistols and assault rifles on board, for use in anti-piracy or anti-terrorism scenarios. The first call of ‘JS Fuji (AGB-5001) into Cape Town was on her maiden voyage, and on 24th February 1966, enroute back to Japan from Syowa. It was to be the first of her 11 official calls into Cape Town.
Every year from 1966, until 1976 (JARE 7 to JARE 17), her outbound route to Antarctica was via Australia, and her return to Japan was always via Cape Town. Her final official call being in March 1976. Sadly, the Soweto riots, and international condemnation of Apartheid later that year meant that the Japanese government took the decision to drop all future calls into Cape Town, and ‘JS Fuji (AGB-5001)’ subsequently routed back to Japan via Port Louis in Mauritius.
This was not to be her final call though, as on 21 February 1980 ‘JS Fuji (AGB-5001)’ arrived in Cape Town with a medical evacuation from Antarctica on JARE 21. This was to be her last call, as she was retired in 1983 at the conclusion of JARE 24. She was replaced by the even larger, and more powerful ‘JS Shirase (AGB-5002)’ in 1983, who again would route home via Mauritius.

However, on her maiden voyage (JARE 25), ‘JS Shirase (AGB-5002)’ was also called upon to conduct a medical evacuation from Antarctica, and she arrived in Cape Town on 3rd March 1984, sailing the next day to Port Louis. She was not seen again until 1998, when again during JARE 39 she was called on to conduct another medical evacuation from Antarctica, and she arrived in Cape Town on 16th January 1998. She sailed the following day for Port Louis and this, the 14th JMSDF ship to arrive in Cape Town, was to be the last visit of the JMSDF to Cape Town.
With the decommissioning of ‘JS Shirase (AGB-5002)’ in 2008 at the conclusion of JARE 49, she was replaced by the current JMSDF icebreaker, ‘JS Shirase (AGB-5003)’, which has never visited Cape Town up to now. All three previous JARE support icebreakers have been preserved as museum ships, and are open to the public in Japan, with ‘Soya PL-107)’ lying in Tokyo, ‘JS Fuji (AGB-5001) lying in Nagoya, and ‘JS Shirase (AGB-5002)’ lying in Funabashi.
So, at 08:00 on the morning of 2 July ‘JS Kashima (TV-3508)’ was the first of the two JMSDF vessels to arrive off Cape Town harbour, and she became the 15th JMSDF vessel to enter Cape Town harbour since the inception of the JMSDF in 1954. She proceeded into the Duncan Dock, and was placed alongside the Passenger Cruise Terminal at E berth. The two JMSDF warships are officially known as the ‘Overseas Training Cruise 2024’, although some referred to them as the vessels of the ’Japan Training Squadron 2024’.
Built by Hitachi Zosen Dockyard at Maizuru in Japan, ‘JS Kashima (TV-3508)’ was launched in February 1994, and commissioned into the JMSDF in January 1995. She is a unique design, and is a one ship class of warship, known as a ‘Kashima class cadet training ship’. She is 143 metres in length and has a displacement tonnage of 4,050 tons.
Her propulsion system is ‘Combined Diesel of Gas’ (CODOG), and she is powered by two Mitsubishi S16U-MTK eight cylinder, four stroke main engines which are used for cruising and produce 4,868 bhp (3,580 kW) each, or two Kawasaki Rolls-Royce SM1C Spey gas turbine engines producing 26,150 bhp (19,500 kW) each, for a maximum sea speed of 25 knots.
As a training vessel, ‘JS Kashima (TV-3508)’ is lightly armed with a single OtoBreda 76mm gun, and two triple torpedo tubes. For official duties she has four signaling cannons, and provides a helideck, capable of taking a SH-60 Seahawk helicopter, but she does not provide any helicopter hangar facilities, although she has an awning tent structure that can be run out to cover the helideck area.
She operates with a crew of 370 officers and men, and on this training cruise carries a full complement of 190 naval officer cadets, who graduated from the 74th General Officer Candidate Course as Ensigns. The 190 cadets include 30 female officers, and one international cadet from the Royal Thai Navy. As a dedicated training vessel ‘JS Kashima (TV-3508)’ is equipped with comfortable accommodation, and good lecture classrooms, designed to develop Officer seamanship skills, provide an international perspective to the Cadets, and promote international relations between the JMSDF and other nations.
The commanding officer of the Overseas Training Cruise 2024 is Rear Admiral Takahiro Nishiyama, who commands the JMSDF Training Squadron, and whose home port is the Kure Naval Base in Japan. The Overseas Training Cruise 2024 departed from Japan on 20th May for a 175 day cruise, which will return to Kure on 11th November, after a cruise of 35,000 nautical miles and thirteen port calls. The Overseas Training Cruise has been conducted every year since 1957, and this is the 68th such cruise by the JMSDF.
Of all the nations being visited, only the USA, with Norfolk and Pearl Harbour, and the UK, with London and Southampton, will receive two port calls. The call to London will be the third since 2016, when her arrival alongside ‘HMS Belfast’ at Tower Bridge was the first London call by a Japanese warship since 1902.
For the current ‘JS Kashima (TV-3508)’, her four day stay in Cape Town was deemed a great success, with many interactions with the South African Navy, and with open days to the Cape Town public to board the vessel. From one account received by a visitor, the crew of ‘JS Kashima (TV-3508)’ were all impeccably polite, and the vessel itself was spotless. At 09:00 on the morning of 6 July, she sailed from Cape Town, bound to her next Overseas Training Cruise 2024 port of call, namely Dakar in Senegal.
Written by Jay Gates and republished with permission from Africa Ports & Ships. The original article can be found here.