Type 11 light machine gun The was a light machine gun used by the Imperial Japanese Army in the interwar period and during World War II . History . Combat experience in the Russo - Japanese War of 1904 - 1905 had convinced the Japanese of the utility of machine gun s to provide covering fire for advancing infantry . This was reinforced by the first - hand observations of European combat tactics by Japanese military attaché s during the First World War , and the Army Technical Bureau was tasked with the development of a lightweight machine gun , which could be easily transportable by the infantry squad . The resultant “ Type 11 light machine gun ” ( named after the 11th year of the reign of Emperor Taishō , or 1922 ) was the first light machine gun to be mass - produced in Japan and the oldest Japanese light machine gun design to see service in the Pacific War . It was superseded by the Type 96 Light Machine Gun in 1936 . Design details . The Type 11 Light Machine Gun was a design by famed arms designer Kijirō Nambu , based on a modification of the French Hotchkiss machine gun . It was an air - cooled , gas - operated design , using the same 6 . 5×50mm Arisaka cartridge s as the Type 38 infantry rifle . A remarkable feature of the Type 11 machine gun is its detachable hopper magazine ; it can be refilled while attached and does not require removal during operation . Instead of a belt or box magazine , the Type 11 was designed to hold up to six of the same cartridge clip s used on the Type 38 rifle . The five - round clips were stacked lying flat above the receiver , secured by a spring arm , and the rounds were stripped from the lowest clip one at a time , with the empty clip thrown clear and the next clip automatically falling into place as the gun was fired . The system had the advantage that any squad member could supply ammunition and that the hopper could be replenished at any time , but later the Japanese had to design a less powerful round because the original round was causing reliability problems , thus eliminating the advantage of compatibility . This new round was called the 6 . 5×50mm Arisaka genso round . The inherent disadvantage of the hopper was that the open feeder box allowed dust and grit to enter the gun , which was liable to jam in muddy or dirty conditions due to issues with poor dimensional tolerances , which gave the weapon a bad reputation with Japanese troops . Another issue was that the weight of the rifle cartridges in the side - mounted magazine unbalanced the weapon when fully loaded . Reloading the weapon during an assault charge proved impossible due to the clip feeding system . The Type 11 was also available with a special mounting for anti - aircraft use , and as a rear - defense aerial gun ; it was one of two ( or three ) different weapons known as the Type 89 machine gun . It consisted of two Type 11 machine guns mounted sideways on common , flexible mounting , with a larger " quadrant " shaped magazine for each gun , holding five - round clips . Some of these Type 11 weapons were also mounted singly , with a normal orientation and fed with a pan - type magazine . It ' s unclear whether this retained the " Type 89 " designation , was known as the Type 11 ( not being a twin - mounted gun ) , or had a different title all of its own . Combat record . The Type 11 came into active service in 1922 , and some 29 , 000 were produced by the time production stopped in 1941 . It was the primary Japanese light machine gun through the Manchurian Incident and in the early stages of the Second Sino - Japanese War . Although superseded by the Type 96 light machine gun in production in 1936 , it remained in service with front - line combat through the end of World War II .