Japanese helmets and caps question.

Was there any significance or reason as to why some Japanese WW2 soldiers wore steel helmets and some wore caps? Did they wear them according to the need of each different battle or did they just wear them randomly?

 

....I would think in the humid jungles the helmet is hotter, obviously heavier .....they had to go a ''long'' way for a ''long'' time sometimes .....I thought the Alamo scouts used soft covers, as did a lot of US spec ops in the Pacific .....
...yes, what did they wear mostly? good question .....
...I think we used the old style helmet in the early 80s ...that's when I was on guard duty--we got all the old stuff.....then in the FMF we had the new helmets ......they were a lot more ergonomic, but still worse than a soft cover [ head gear ]
..for night patrols, you would want a soft cover.....I would think for night assault, they would want soft covers

 

The helmets were made of soft steel and not very good for protection from shrapnel or bullets. The only real benefit to them was a webbed cover that you could stick branches and leaves in for camouflage.