301st Hikotai Frog

301st Tactical Fighter Squadron (301 Hikotai), Japan Air Self-Defense Force · Allied · 2013

Worn by a fighter pilot of the JASDF's 301st Tactical Fighter Squadron and traded to a U.S. Marine during a bilateral U.S.-Japan WestPac training exercise in 2013. The squadron's frog — a Japanese common toad from the slopes of Mount Tsukuba near Hyakuri, where the unit stood up in 1973 as the JASDF's first F-4EJ Phantom squadron — is a pun and a prayer: 'kaeru' means both 'frog' and 'to come home' safely. The stars on its scarf count the squadron's parent air wing, and the five here date the patch to the 301st's long tenure with the 5th Air Wing at Nyutabaru, Miyazaki Prefecture (1985-2016). The unit flew the Phantom to the very end of Japanese frontline service, retiring the last F-4EJ Kai in December 2020 before reforming on the F-35A at Misawa — where the frog's scarf dropped to three stars.