3x Hinomaru

[GHP]

This is lifted from the post on Castle Thunder with the important part bolded:.......

Good research!

--Guy

[Nick Komiya]

The company, Great Japan Weapon Machines Corp established in 1938 is now this company since 2008, http://www.komatsu-ntc.com/ and the dry dock that gave birth to all this was the one that did the total refurbishing of the American carrier, Midway after the war.

[Nick Komiya]

Regarding your first flag, it does say Bu Un Cho Kyu on the right side, although, in a sloppy hand. The three 1s you see on top are only the tail end of names that end with 1. Most Japanese male first names are structured to tell in a series where you stand in the hierarchy within your own family; whether you are the first son, etc. So for the most common boy's name of Taro (As in the book Taro and the Tofu I saw as a kid in the US), if you get a second son and still stick to the name series, it will continue as Jiro, Saburo, Shiro and Goro.
Although you don't see any number One in 太郎、Taro, it meant first son, Jiro being the second son and so on. Your flag also has the names Shunichi and Ryuichi both ending in Ichi. Continuing with those names gives you Shunji(2), Shunzo(3), Ryuji, Ryuzo. To name by numbers was more a tradition of old days, and nowadays you look more at how many strokes there are in the name as there are numbers luckier than others or just by what sounds best. In the old days, Taro inherited the farm and took care of his parents, while Jiro joined the navy and Saburo went to work in the Hawaiian cane fields.

[Lea Hall]

Thank you for the information. The "sloppiness" of the hand writing you mention is what I have been interpreting as artistic. You have altered my view of it. Guess the guy who wrote it was a doctor?

[Nick Komiya]

Why a doctor? Forgot to say that the first flag came from Tsu-city in Mie Prefecture, as it says Tsu- branch of Meiko. Meiko would be the shortened name of some industrial company or industrial school in Nagoya city, with a branch in Tsu.

[Stu W]

Hi Nick,

Why a doctor? ... In North America, and perhaps elsewhere, there is a long standing joke about the hand writing of doctors. Theirs ranks as the most difficult to read.

Regards,
Stu

[Paul G]

My Doctor has all the time in the world when he writes out my prescriptions, however, I cannot make out a single word, even when I know what its supposed to say. When I take it to my pharmacist, she takes one quick look at it and can tell immediately and clearly what is written, It baffles me.......like a secret language

PG-

[Lea Hall]

Stu and Paul G are in the right of it, the doctor reference was just a bad joke about the doctor stereotype of bad handwriting. Thanks for the other information, but I am curious how you know that the Tsu branch was from a company from Nagoya? Is it just because of the the proximity of Tsu to Nagoya?

[Nick Komiya]

My experience in Germany is exactly the same as PG's. They all hand-write what normal people should type, like Dr to Dr memos, yet they seem to understand each other. So I thought Drs must all have above average penmanship to rely so heavily on a primitive communication style.
Na as in Nagoya is also read as Mei and the latter sound is used when shortening names. Like UCLA, UBC, schools are commonly referred to in acronyms, so Nagoya Industrial Highschool for example, 名古屋工業高等学校 will get shortened to 名工 and read as Meiko. So Nagoya University, Nagoya Daigaku becomes Meidai.

[Lea Hall]

Thanks again Nick. I am finding that one of the most appealing aspects of this is that the correct information is so much more interesting than my incorrect speculations. They also make so much more sense than what I come up with on my own.

Is there any location information or information of interest you can tell me about from the 3rd flag? I hope it does not hurt to ask. I really appreciate all you have given so far.

Thanks,

Lea

[Nick Komiya]

Nothing worth mentioning about the third flag, sorry.

[Lea Hall]

Thanks all the same.