Is this Japanese? If so, what does it say?

[aj_chicago]

Interested in this piece. Not sure what it is or if it's Japanese or Chinese. I saw a similar quesiton posed that got an answer so I thought I'd try. If this IS Japanese what does this say, please?

 

[mdchachi]

Interested in this piece. Not sure what it is or if it's Japanese or Chinese. I saw a similar quesiton posed that got an answer so I thought I'd try. If this IS Japanese what does this say, please?

It's neither, it's english. It says G A Y.

 

[mdchachi]

Just kidding. It looks like 盖伊 to me. My best guess is that it's Chinese phonetically spelling out the pronunciation of GAY.
But wait for somebody with more expertise to reply.

 

[Toritoribe]

It also can be Japanese ateji for Gay. 盖 is less common than 蓋 in Japanese, but it's used as a variant.

 

[thomas]

盖伊

 

[Majestic]

Yes - agree with the above. Possibly a souvenir stamp/chop from someone named Gay who lived in Hong Kong. Or, it could also be from Japan, but I think a foreigner living in Japan would probably opt for something other than the kanji/romaji combination. Anyway, as above, it says "Gay" both in alphabet and phonetically in kanji characters.