Photo/Illutration Yusuke Kito, chief of the public affairs section at the Maritime Staff Office, approves a member’s proposal to become YouTubers in a video uploaded on the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s YouTube channel. (From the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s official YouTube channel)

Desperate to attract young people to join the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF), recruiters have turned themselves into YouTubers to make its service seem cool.

The new project, dubbed “KanTube,” (“kan” meaning "ship" in Japanese), debuted in late September with its first video.

Its "star," Yusuke Kito, 47, a chief of the Maritime Staff Office's Public Affairs Section, donned a headpiece shaped like a ship.

When he spoke, his eyes were photoshopped to look like stars.

“I want to make (the videos) as edgy as possible without lowering our dignity as an SDF personnel,” Kito said of the video in which Maritime Staff Office public affairs personnel appeared in a sketch and re-enacted what went on in a staff meeting and how they came up with the YouTuber idea. “There's no point in us doing this unless people see the videos.”

The video racked up more than 90,000 views online by Oct. 19.

Some viewers were aghast at and amused by the MSDF’s YouTuber debut. “Have they gone completely nuts?” one wrote on a social networking site.

Another wrote, "The MSDF had a breakdown."

But such comments were pleasing to the ear for Kito and his staff.

“We wanted to generate a buzz in the public, and our hunch has proved right,” he said.

The MSDF recruiters said that the institution has been so shorthanded as the novel coronavirus pandemic has hindered regular recruitment activities and strategies that they are compelled to do anything they can do to gain new recruits. 

Even before the pandemic, things were dire.

In fiscal 2018, the MSDF enlisted young cadets that fulfilled only 60 percent of the recruitment goal.

In fact, the MSDF’s recruitment rate ranks the worst among Japan's defense forces.

Spending many days at sea is considered a major reason why young people avoid the MSDF.

At the same time, duties and missions for MSDF personnel have continued to increase, such as activities to guard and protect against Chinese ships and North Korean missiles.

In addition, the dispatch of an MSDF destroyer to the Middle East began this year.

“I want (young people) to understand our job and also know that, surprisingly, things are not always rigidly formal in here,” said Yasuo Nishida, 44, who came up with the idea of launching KanTube for recruitment.

Staff of the Public Affairs Section have also begun making a series of videos in which they visit various MSDF units and introduce professional jobs.

They visit a P-3C patrol aircraft and show viewers its cockpit and equipment in the latest video, uploaded on Oct. 16. Viewers can see a pilot pulling back on the stick and the aircraft taking off.

Related News