The was the Imperial Japanese Navy's military police, equivalent to the Imperial Japanese Army's '' Kempeitai''. It was also the smallest military police service. The original ''Tokkeitai'' was known as the

General Affairs Section A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED On ...

and concerned itself with police and

personnel Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

work within the Navy: personnel, discipline and records. It took a more active role, partly to keep the ''Kempeitai'' and the Army from meddling in Navy affairs. Smaller and more low-key than its rival, it was no less brutal. It was especially active in the areas of the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and the

Naval Control Area A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It include ...

and was as pervasive as the ''Kempeitai''. It had the same

commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means 'commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and Eas ...

roles in relation to exterior enemies or suspicious persons, and it watched inside units for possible defectors or traitors under the security doctrine of '' Kikosaku''. Attached to navy units, they served as Colonial police in some occupied Pacific areas. Later accusations of war crimes were made against them in that role for such acts as coercion of women from Indonesia, Indochina and China into

sexual slavery Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership rights, right over one or more people with the intent of Coercion, coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activities. This include ...

. In addition to its police responsibilities, it was the operative branch of the Secret Service Branch of the Imperial Japanese Navy (, which was responsible for recovering and analyzing information and for the execution of undercover operations. Its members also provided local security near naval bases. In the final weeks of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

, it was among the security units prepared for combat against the proposed

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

invasion of Japan Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II. The planned operation was canceled when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ...

Notes

{{Imperial Japanese Navy Defunct law enforcement agencies of Japan Defunct Japanese intelligence agencies Imperial Japanese Navy Political repression in Japan

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

National security institutions