Japanese Helmet-Some Info Appreciated

[FightenIrish35]

Here is another one of my recent buys. Its a nice example of a WW2 Japanese helmet. I now know that the one Kanji means the size and im guessing small? But it has Blue characthers that throws me off because I thought they always used white type paint but I dont know much on helmets yet.Also where the star once was you can clearly see it was repainted with the star on fastened onto the helmet. Did they usually paint with the star attached? Also there is what looks llike a star or it could be kanji that has been punctured into the leather liner,what does it mean?Thanks ahead of time for your information fellas.

Regards,
Michael

[blinky]

Actually that kanji is for large. The perforated kanji in the liner band is the same charater, large. I suppose white paint is the most common but this shade of blue isn't unknown. For some reason I've seen this used on marking names on canteens more than anything else. I have an army canteen with the name painted in the exact shade of blue.

It's a pity it's missing the star but it's still a nice looking helmet

eric