Mark IV female. First and only Mark IV in Japan, first Japanese tank ever. Sold by the British, arrived in Japan on 24th October 1918. Tested on Aoyama fields (normally used for parades) in Tokyo area in 1918 and 1919. Before that the Japanese crew practiced in Britain. This tank was armed with only 4 (not 5) Lewis machine guns. The Japanese were disappointed with results of tests, slow Mark IV did not fit their aggressive and fast fighting style. However the tank was a big sensation - lots of officers from all over the country and Emperor himself watched it. On 1919 the tank was incorporated to motorised transport unit led by major (or colonel) Yamakawa. What's interesting is that the tank was never incorporated to any of the two first Japanese tank units (one armed with 6 Whippets, the other with 13 to 15 Reanaults FT). In 1927 the tank was withdrawn from te army and put in the Yasukuni Temple in Tokyo (vis-a-vis Emperor's palace), which was a sanctuary of the national religion Shinto. After 1944 the tank mysteriously disappeared. However in 1945 or 1946 Mark IV female appeared in Aberdeen museum. Some Japanese experts state this is "Japanese" Mark IV, but maybe we'll never know the truth.
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