Editing Imperial Japanese Equipment (section)

=== Machine Guns ===
[[Image:Japanese Type 11 LMG.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The lengths some people will go for cross-compatibility]]
Not that most of Japan's heavy machine guns were the old school static rifle caliber HMGs, not the big bullet guns like the M2 or the Dushka.
* '''Type 11 Light Machine gun''': Put into service in 1922, this gun is ''weird''. It's like the gun equivalent of putting a USB port on an iPhone so you can use the same flash drive in it and your laptop. Basic idea, make a machine gun that could use the 5 round stripper clips used by Arisaka Rifles. That means you don't have to make special magazines for it or ship them to the front, while regular infantry dudes can supply it with bullets in a pinch. So it has this weird hopper magazine that takes up to 6 clips. This also meant putting the stock off to the side for balance. While it worked, it was heavy, awkward and not terribly reliable, especially in the dirty jungles where the open hopper was vulnerable to dirt getting in. The Soviets captured a few and actually made a few prototypes with a copied mechanism before realizing that it was more hassle than it was worth.
* '''Type 96 Light Machinegun''': to address the problems with the Type 11, the Japanese replaced it with a different model that used a top-loading magazine, based on the Czech ZB VZ 26 (which also inspired the Bren Gun).
* '''Type 97 Light Machine Gun''': Another machinegun based on the VZ 26, but more heavily built as it was intended for mounting on tanks. Rarely deployed as an infantry machinegun due to the extra weight, it featured an integrated scope and heavy barrel jacket to give it a distinctive appearance.
* '''Type 99 Light Machine Gun''': Visually similar to the Type 96 but chambered in the same 7.7x58mm ammo as the Type 99 Arisaka. Other than that, it and the Type 96 [[Imperial Guard|were one of the few LMGs with a bayonet mount.]]
* '''Type 3 Heavy Machinegun''': Static machinegun mounted on a tripod. Based loosely on the Hotchkiss machinegun in that its barrel has large cooling rings and feeds from 30 round feed strips. Chambered in 6.5mm. Just like the original Hotchkiss gun, the feed strips may be faster to load than an ammo belt and are reuseable, but any dirt or warping in the strips makes them unusable.
* '''Type 92 Heavy Machinegun''': overall shares the same layout as the Type 3, but chambered in 7.7mm.