 However, it has had consistent problems during its service life due to its reportedly overcomplicated construction and is plagued by a false (yet pervasive) reputation for shedding parts during field use and overall unreliability.The JGSDF's Ōita Prefecture garrison had encountered supply problems when they were not able to account for 30 Howa Type 64s that had been lost, despite a massive search conducted by 95,000 soldiers on January 24, 2007.The Japanese Defense Agency conducted research on which rifle the JGSDF should adopt to replace the M1 Garands in service.