WWII Japanese Flag that my Father brought from Okinawa

[Manix5]

Hello,
I was helping my father clean out his desk the other day and we found this Japanese flag that he brought back from his time in the Army in WWII. Dad went into Leyte as a replacement and then went to Okinawa. I am hoping someone could help translate the Japanese writings. There are also three stamps on the flag that I would be curious to know about. They all appear to be the same stamp. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Brad

[Nick Komiya]

That's a fake souvenir flag made by enterprising American soldiers at the end of the war. The stamps say Military Mail.

[Der Texaner]

It was indeed made by American soldiers as a souvenir to take home for GI's, but its still a neat piece of history, and certainly still a collectible to hang on to.

[Manix5]

Thanks for the information. Good to know where it came from and we will certainly hang on to it

[juoneen]

Could the flag have been sent to a japanese man in a japanese field post office in Okinawa or another base as he traveled and defended.......and then your dad found it....after the battle? Did you ask your dad or has he passed on? I would think the mark was for showing the item sent in the mail was passed by their post offices and maybe not when the flag was made? ( Just a thought.)

[Nick Komiya]

Could the flag have been sent to a japanese man in a japanese field post office in Okinawa or another base as he traveled and defended.......and then your dad found it....after the battle? Did you ask your dad or has he passed on? I would think the mark was for showing the item sent in the mail was passed by their post offices and maybe not when the flag was made? ( Just a thought.)

Absolutely not. Why would a Japanese soldier possess a Japanese flag produced solely by Americans post war? The stamp may be real, taken from a post office and used so it looked like shrine stamps found on originals, but no Japanese ever touched that flag, as it is a flag produced by Americans for Americans.

[Staldion]

The sun is also very big on this one.
Do the flag have some leather tabs at the corners?

[Nick Komiya]

The flags were done using stencils by Americans, so there is nothing original to them.
Here's the photo shown on this forum before.

[Ron P]

One of my parents friends was a parachute rigger on Saipan. He told me they had a seven day a week operation producing Japanese flags out a parachute material and sold them to bomber crews. He said they even had a POW janitor who wrote the kanji. As my parents friend said..."God only knows what he wrote, but it looked good."

[Nick Komiya]

So it was the janitor, not the butler!

[Ryukyutunnelrat]