Baldwin delivered 24 Atlantic locomotives to the Nippon Tetsudo in 1897, which were to remain the only Japanese engines with this wheel arrangement. In terms of design, it was a typical American Atlantic, but it had been reduced in size for the Cape gauge of 3 ft 6 in and the significantly smaller loading gauge. Thanks to the trailing axle and the space-saving bar frame, it was possible to arrange the firebox completely behind the coupled axles and to make it very wide, which was otherwise difficult with steam locomotives with a smaller gauge. Also typically American were the large driver's cab and the high-mounted running boards. Due to the inside Stephenson valve gear of American design, the locomotives looked very tidy, since only the connecting and coupling rods could be seen from the outside.

In the initially private railway they were designated as Bbt2/5 with the operating numbers 506 to 529 and were used on today's Joban line on the east coast. The available coal was not of high quality, but thanks to the large grate area, the boiler could still produce a lot of steam. After nationalization in 1906, the locomotives were given the numbers 6600 to 6623 by the JNR. Since only two of the five axles on Atlantic locomotives were powered, they were soon replaced by newer superheated steam locomotives with greater adhesive weight. All 24 machines were quickly scrapped in April and May 1925.

In 1912, the Japanese state railways received four class 4100 tank locomotives from Maffei in Germany. Two years later, Kawasaki had more locomotives made that were more or less copies. Differences lay in a larger grate but smaller firebox heating surface. After 30 locomotives were built, the boiler got an additional flue with an additional superheater element.

In Japan, the locomotives were only used until 1950. Five were taken to Korea in 1939, where they later remained in service as part of the North Korean Railways until 1976. Some locomotives also came to Taiwan, these were scrapped by 1980.

In order to reduce the axle load of the trailing axle of the D50 class with a 2-8-2 wheel arrangement, a two-axle bogie was installed in its place from 1951. Along with other modifications, the D60 class was created. The D51 class was converted into the D61 class and the D52 class into the D62 class in the same way. In addition, the cylinder diameter had been reduced from 570 to 550 mm to reduce the tendency to slip. The locomotives were retired between 1966 and 1974. Four have survived to this day.