More Japanese treasures

Tucked away in small boxes among medals, Marine lapel pins, and other mementos from Grandpa Givan's time as a United States Marine, I found more treasures that I am working on scanning, photographing, and adding to the collection of war-time treasures featured on this site.

Once again, I have had the pleasure of working with Fumiko on the translation. She has been a tremendous asset in this venture and her assistance is greatly appreciated. We met again last night for about an hour and spent most of the time identifying more than 40 names on the prayer flag for Shinzo Furuya. It is going to take some time to properly map out the flag and the names, but I hope to have that published to the site in the next week or two (depending on how the holiday craziness affects things!).

For now, I have a dog tag, two business cards, a small talisman and a cigarette holder (this will have to be photographed). 

I believe the top row of characters reads "Shrine - 1". On the right, are the numbers "7838" and on the left, "35". If this is a dog tag and not a "plate of dedication to a shrine" as mentioned in a post on the Axis History Forum (http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=146043), then the numbers might identify the regiment number and serial number. I have posted an image of the dog tag on the forum and hopefully I can get a response and confirmation on the translation of the top row of characters.

The business cards are a mystery - I do not know where they came from, what they were with or where Grandpa found them. I cannot remember when I opened the box back in 1999 if they were in the wallet, or even in the box for that matter. They may have been in Grandpa's roll-top desk, tucked in a corner of a dresser or in any one of the places that I searched through at the house. As with everything else on this site, I'm going to try and track down the businesses and the people identified on the cards - who knows what I might uncover!

Front (image on the left) and reading the columns from right to left

Column 1 is the business
Kaneda Factory

Column 2 is the name of the person
Watanabe Eiichi

Column 3 is the address of the factory
Tokyo Arihara Ward, Hiratsuka, 6-921

Column 4 provides additional information on the location of the factory
Right beside the Ikegami Line (train/tram) at the Hatagaoka Station

The back of the card is eligible and we were only able to get a partial translation, but there is an address of an association and the name Hirai Osamu.

The second business card, again reading from right to left.

Column 1 is the name of the group
Great Japan Women's Association

Column 2 is additional information regarding the group
Second group of Tachibana-cho, Fourth branch of Nihonbashi, Tokyo

Column 3 is the name of the person
President Kobayashi Haru

Column 4 is the address
Tokyo, Nihonbashi District, Tachibana-cho, 13-9

Column 5 is a phone number and how to contact President Kobayashi
Hana (67) 3212 (request Hana to contact Haru)

Similar to the other talisman posted on the site, this one was from Mt Ise, dedicated to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Omikami (http://witcombe.sbc.edu/sacredplaces/ise.html). The talisman reads "prayer for military success".