The are military education and training courses oriented toward Commando operations in the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF).
The original course that is still held at was established in 1956 by two JGSDF officers who had graduated from the United States Army Ranger School. This course was basically the Japanese version of the American Ranger School at the beginning.
In 1960, local ranger courses were started by each infantry regiment. As ranger courses continued to be carried out in various JGSDF units, they developed according to the country's geography.
Generally, there are four types of Ranger Courses as follows, but all courses are known for their severe harshness so only eligible soldiers can take these courses:
JGSDF soldiers are not the only ones to participate in the courses. Air Self Defense Force paramedics (Japanese counterparts of the United States Air Force Pararescuemen) have also participated in Airborne Ranger Courses. JGSDF rangers are known as pioneers of rope and mountain rescue techniques, thus eligible members of civilian law enforcement and rescue organizations (Mountain security squads of the police and Rescue Technicians of the fire departments, for example) can take Ranger Courses arranged for search and rescue operations.
Unlike the United States Army Rangers, the JGSDF has adopted a policy to improve the level of the whole forces by distributing rangers to each units, thus the unit consisting only of rangers was not established except for the training units in the Fuji School and CWCT. But in case of special operations or disaster response, commanding officers may gather Rangers and organize Ranger units temporarily.
When Western Army Infantry Regiment (WAiR; later expanded to Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade) was launched in 2002, Ranger platoons were set up in this regiment. These platoons are certified as special operation units. In 2012, they conducted joint landing exercises with the United States Marine Corps in Guam.