Japanese or Chinese vase?

[Lothor]

My father gave this to Ms Lothor when my grandmother died, claiming that it was a Japanese vase.
She is convinced it is Chinese and it looks that way to me, my dad is insistent that it's Japanese.
Can anyone help?

 

[Mike Cash]

Are those pandas?!?!

 

[mdchachi]

Are those pandas?!?!

They look like Pandas in Chinese kimono. :hilarious:

 

[Lothor]

Odd, aren't they! She always did like rather kitsch stuff.
The question seems like a no-brainer, but my dad did insist they were Japanese.
There are three kanji on the bottom, sorry the photo isn't very clear.
The first kanji is definitely 元, the second looks like 音 with a couple of dots on it (bamboo radical？), the third looks like a stylized 業

 

[Mike Cash]

Odd, aren't they! She always did like rather kitsch stuff.
The question seems like a no-brainer, but my dad did insist they were Japanese.
There are three kanji on the bottom, sorry the photo isn't very clear.
The first kanji is definitely 元, the second looks like 音 with a couple of dots on it (bamboo radical？), the third looks like a stylized 業

That's nothing but a blur, I'm afraid.

The pandas would lead me to think this is Chinese, for obvious reasons.

 

[Glenski]

Take better pics, but for now I'd say it is Chinese.

 

[Lothor]

Thanks for the comments.