New book + hinomaru flag info

[Curt Steinbach]

Hello All:

I have never posted here before because my collecting focus is German. However I often look at the various posts here because I am generally interested in WWII history. Aside from that I remember my father used to have some tsubas and I'm not sure he still has them.

The posts here also seem to be far more polite and lack the rancor that is sometimes seen in other forums!

Anyway, I recently read a book I picked up at the library about a family who's father emigrated from Japan and then sent for a wife. They had 5 children in the US and then when the father died went back to Japan (Hiroshima). 2 of them eventually went back to the US when they were old enough and ended up in the interment camps after Pearl Harbor. Harry volunteered for the MIS as a translator. 3 of his brothers were in the Japanese military. Fascinating book. Midnight in Broad Daylight by Pamela Rotner Sakamoto (2016 HarperCollins).

I did some searching here and I have seen mentions of Seabee fake hinomaru flags and I believe at least one mention saying a member had heard that MIS translators also made up these flags as souvenirs. In the above book it was mentioned that Harry was quite the scrounger and traded for food, alcohol and even lumber for an outhouse. This is what was said about this practice...

"Each time, Harry provided something in return for the favors, often a hinomaru flag for men to send home to impress loved ones with their conquests. Cutting rectangles from hospital sheets, he drew and filled in a red circle against a white background. In his convincing Japanese cursive, he then autographed the flags with fictitious signatures."

So maybe I missed a post where this was confirmed/discussed but if nothing else maybe you'll read the book.

thanks
Curt

[pmiya]

Sadly Col. Harry Fukuhara passed away about a year ago. I have seen interviews of him where he told of his war experiences. During the interviews there wasn't any mention about the yoseigaki.

One of my uncles was MIS, dad and a lot of my other uncles served in the ETO. He was with the first troops that went into Japan. The only thing I remember he talking about was about an uncle that had been a career IJA NCO. When he was repatriated to Japan he would have nothing to do with his nephew who he considered an enemy.

As a side note it is interesting how the Japanese traditions were followed when the Issei sent their sons off to war. I have seen my dad's and one of my uncle's Senninbari they were sent off to Europe with. They also carried Omamori even though they were Christians.