Japan's light cruisers in the first, victorious phase of the war for the Land of the Rising Sun, at the head of destroyer flotillas, supported landings on numerous islands in the southern and southwestern parts of the ocean. They participated in supplying the garrisons of these islands with the necessary equipment and ammunition, being part of the famous “Tokyo Express”, they acted on allied communications, sometimes in areas as remote from Japan as the Indian Ocean, conducted reconnaissance, etc. In the last year of the war, Japanese light cruisers , like other ships of the Imperial Navy, suffered greatly from a lack of fuel and began to go to sea much less frequently.