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Appendix XII

Japanese Army daily ration

The daily staple foods rationed to each individual during the war for the Japanese Army were:

(a)	660 grammes of rice and 210 grammes1 of wheat, or
(b)	690 grammes of hard tack or compressed dried foods.

However, there were times when the ration (a) was reduced and supplemented by a portion of (b).

Because of the difficulty in transporting supplies during the Solomons campaign, the combat forces ordinarily received one half to one third rations. During the worst situations, many units were cut off from supplies for many days. When the supply situation was very bad, staple foods were substituted with coconuts, taro roots, and sweet potatoes found in the locality. Moreover, sea water was often used since there was a lack of salt. There were also many units which resorted to eating grass and nuts from trees in order to overcome hunger and continue fighting.