the 1st Fleet from January 1932 to May 1933 after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and patrolled northern China. From November 1937 to 1938, the ship was retrofitted with eight Kampon boilers that reduced her maximum speed to and her remaining torpedo tubes were removed. The space made available by these changes increased her capacity to 500 mines. With the establishment of the 4th Fleet on 15 November 1939, Tokiwa was assigned to the 18th Division, and a year later to the 19th Division under the command of Rear Admiral Kiyohide Shima together with the minelayer . In 1940, the ship was refitted as a training minelayer which reduced her capacity to 200-300 mines. As part of the refit, her forward 8-inch gun turret and the four amidships 6-inch guns were removed, as was one of the 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type AA guns. Her anti-aircraft armament was heavily reinforced with the addition of two single guns and twenty license-built Hotchkiss 25-millimeter Type 96 light AA guns in twin-gun mounts. Pacific War On 9 and 10 December 1941, Tokiwa and the other minelayers of the 19th Division escorted two troop transports that carried the occupation forces for Makin and Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. In January 1942, the ship participated in Operation R (the invasion of Rabaul and Kavieng) and returned to Kwajalein Atoll afterwards. She was damaged in an air raid by American aircraft from the carrier on 1 February 1942 and forced to return to Sasebo for repairs. Tokiwa returned to Truk on 14 July, and, on 19 August, was assigned to the Japanese task force sent to reoccupy Makin Atoll after the Makin Raid. On 1 May 1943, the ship was reassigned to the Ōminato Guard District and departed Truk on 26 May in a convoy to Yokosuka that was unsuccessfully attacked by on 3 June. Tokiwa was reassigned to the 18th Escort Squadron of the 7th Fleet on 20 January 1944. Tokiwa laid thousands of mines in the waters off Okinawa in June 1944 and Yakushima in February 1945. Ironically, Tokiwa was herself mined on 14 April 1945, approximately off Hesaki, Kyūshū suffering moderate damage. She was later damaged again by mines laid by USAAF B-29 Superfortress bombers on 3 June 1945. At some point during the war, her armament was augmented with approximately ten 25 mm Type 96 AA guns in single mounts