Japan Flag from WWII

Hi All,

Received this from my grandfather's belongings after he passed away. He was on one of the first ships that arrived in Japan after the devastation.

1. Looking to learn anything about it.
2. Any ideas on best ways to share it back to a muesum or history/learning institute ?

Thank you!

Jonbing said:

Hi All,

Received this from my grandfather's belongings after he passed away. He was on one of the first ships that arrived in Japan after the devastation.

1. Looking to learn anything about it.
2. Any ideas on best ways to share it back to a muesum or history/learning institute ?

Thank you!

Click to expand...

Looks like a personal souvenir. Perhaps of all the places he'd been. Is it his handwriting?

Here is some general information, although a lot of this may not be relevant to your flag as yours isn't a "good luck" flag, but more like a souvenir for a GI as @mdchachi says. Is that some Japanese writing up in the left corner? It looks like it, but the wrinkles in the flag make it difficult to parse.


I think this one is best enjoyed as a souvenir. Its historical value is completely eclipsed by its personal value. Or, to say it another way, its personal value is far greater than its educational value, because this flag doesn't tell us anything about the person it was made for, or the times in which it was made. The typical "good luck" flag is an item that was carried off to war by a Japanese soldier, and it would be signed by friends and family and workmates from where the soldier worked. So these good luck flags tell us a bit about who and why it was carried off to war. In some cases, it is also possible to return the flags to the families of the original owner.
Your flag just has the names of major Japanese cities on it in English, so we can only assume someone made it for your grandfather, or that he bought it as a souvenir when he was there - as was very common.