Name That Japanese WWII insignia

[Bob Hudson]

A got these in 2011 from a guy whose dad gathered them up in occupied Japan. Even living in what's considered a Marine community, spoils of the Pacific War are rare: this is the only vet bringback Japanese insignia I've ever found, but I could fill up several suitcaes with the bringback German stuff I got from families in this area.

 

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

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[Bob Hudson]

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[Old Marine]

I haven't a clue as to what they are, but that's a great looking, very interesting group of insignia. Thanks for posting them.

[tiger41]

What you have is typical of what vets brought home from occupied Japan. The Japanese were defeated and the country was a mess...to live they often sold GI's just about anything to make money and survive. This is one of the most common. They would pin insignia to a page and in an effort to make it look more appealing they would put stuff together that did not match...but it sure looked cool. The insignia area mixture of some civilian, army and navy but most have pins added to make it more appealing to the buyer. The insignia is all good...but they are mixtures of stuff that doesn't go together. All the little cherry blossoms are navy rank pieces, but the patches are army. One of the best is the pre 1938 green (cavalry) army arm of service collar insignia (enlisted)with several cherry blossoms, an army rank star and an post 1938 maroon (engineer) army of service "M" insignia ( officers). The one piece that is not messed with is the last one... Merchant navy officers visor hat insignia. If you need to ID the individual pieces I can, contact me privately....basically this is a "souvenir" grouping brought home and is a little more common than you may think.