Curzon and Aceface are recruited by the JSDF

In July, the Japanese Self Defense Force opened a unique recruiting center in Shibuya, the capital of Tokyo’s youth. This new facility, subcontracted to a private contractor, has a specific mandate: give Japan’s version of military service a cool new look to help recruit young people into the (somewhat) armed forces. Aceface and I visited the center earlier this month.

What does the facility provide? First of all, it’s small, barely larger than a living room. On display are the uniforms of all the services, plus toys of SDF tanks and planes and DVDs of the SDF in action. Some uniforms can also be tried on, upon which the staff will take your picture for free. Ace and I didn’t hesitate to take advantage of this perk.

You can also read back issues of Mamor, a magazine published by the Ministry of Defense on the SDF and various military hardware. The drift of the magazine has blatantly changed over the past year. Check out two back issues here, one from July 2007 and the other from 2008. The magazine clearly found recently that tanks don’t sell magazine, but women in uniforms do—hence the change in cover theme.

Conclusion from the visit? The facility, despite being small and probably not that expensive on the taxpayers, is frankly a whopping great joke. The idea that a military recruiting center can get people to sign up by promoting itself “cool” just doesn’t fly. As frequently posted by Younghusband, the military has to be sold as what it is. The trendy kids in Shibuya are not going to sign up because they see a few DVDs of tanks driving through the mud, try on a uniform, and get impressed by the SDF logo surrounded by hearts. The facility was notably empty for our 20 minute visit, and I doubt it sees many visitors at all, yet the government is, in typical Japanese style, already considering opening up sister facilities around Tokyo and beyond.

For those of you stopping by Shibuya who want to experience a laugh, the facility it is located on the east side of the main crossing east of the station, across from Bic Camera, and is open from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. (closed on Wednesdays).