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Medical Assistants are recruited from among male nurses not on active or reserve service of the army or navy who, having been selected on examination, have received the necessary education.

Paymaster Clerks are appointed from among the non-commissioned officers who have served with the colours for at least three years, and who have received the necessary education at the Paymasters’ School.

All Japanese males between the ages of seventeen and forty years are liable to military service.

The service is divided into Active, Landwehr, Depot, and Landsturm services.

The Active service is divided into service with the colours and service with the first reserve. The former is obligatory for all who have reached full twenty years, and continues for a period of three years. The latter is obligatory for all who have finished service with the former, and continues for a period of four years and four months.

The Landwehr reserve is made up of those who have finished the first reserve term, and continues for five years.

The Depot service is divided into the first and second sections, the former lasting seven years and four months, and the latter one year and four months. The first is made up of those who have not been enlisted for active service, while the second consists of those who have not been enlisted for first Depot service.

The Landsturm is in two divisions, the first for those who have completed the term of Landwehr service and the first Depot service, and the second for all who are not on the other services.

In 1901 the males liable to conscription service throughout the empire numbered 539,282, distributed as follows:

In the army, as in every other branch of occupation throughout Japan, the matter of education is considered of paramount importance, and no effort has been spared to provide the most