Given the scope on the type 97 LMG that makes it almost as precise as any other semi-auto or full-auto sniper rifle when fired in single shot or 2-shot burst, I believe it should be usable by Japanese snipers, rather than machine gunners. IMO, this is also a good chance to add Sniper III to Japan, by attaching the squad to the Type 97 LMG in the research tree, even without any other changes to the research tree.
Also, Japan only has 2 different unlockable sniper rifles (not counting any premium weapons), which are both bolt-action. USSR has AVS-36 (full auto), Sniper SVT-38 and Sniper SVT-40 (both semi-auto only). USA has Sniper M1 Garand and M1C Garand (both semi-auto only). Germany has the sniper FG 42 II, Sniper Mkb 42, and Sniper STG44 (all with full-auto capability). Thus, it can be seen that Japan is lacking in sniper capability compared to the others.
On the topic of adding Sniper III to Japan, if the idea of giving the type 97 LMG to snipers instead of machine gunners is not appealing, perhaps it would be possible to give a sniper variant of the Type Hei, Type Ko, Type Otsu, or Type 4 semi-auto rifles with Sniper III attached to it?
Separately, it may also be good to give Sniper II 3 more perk points than Sniper I (rather than only 1 weapon handling perk points) and Sniper III 3 more perk points than Sniper II (rather than only 2 weapon handling perk points).
