Japanese Civil Defense Helmet

[Bosley]

Hi All, 

 

I picked this up over the weekend at an estate sale that had a pretty nice selection of WWII items.  It was of course a scramble to get anything, but I was at least able to grab this, I think largely because the other guys who were scooping up all the militaria thought the price was just too high on this piece.  (A lot of the prices here seemed higher than people were expecting.)

 

My knowledge of Japanese gear is close to nil.  Is there anything you all could share with me about this piece?  In trying to look up other pictures of Civil Defense helmets, I'm not seeing others that have the red circle painted on the front, nor a white numeral like this.  Thoughts on that?

 

Thanks for the help!

 

-Bosley