AFAIK, no substantial quantities of Japanese ammo were ever imported. Where the war in Europe left tons of German rifles and ammo in depots which importers "raided", the war in the Pacific left the ammo scattered around jungle islands where it just rotted away. During the early occupation, GI's were allowed to pick over Japanese arms depots and take weapons (these are the ones with ground crests - unground crests indicate captured weapons), but the ammo was destroyed.
Result, no Japanese surplus ammo. The 7.7 MG ammo in strips mentioned is semi-rimmed (if original) and not usable in the Type 99 rifle.
7.7 Japanese can be made from .30-'06 by full length sizing, trimming and expanding the neck. The base will be smaller than the 7.7 base, but with moderate loads the altered cases will work fine. They should only be neck sized after first firing.
Jim
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