Not sure if this is the right place to ask...

[SkyDaddy7]

Last edited Fri Mar 24, 2017, 05:43 AM - Edit history (2)

My Mother-in-Law found some WW2 artifacts her father brought back from fighting in the pacific...There is one that is a piece of carved wood with what I assume is Japanese writing on it & I was wonder if anyone could translate it for me if i sent them the pic. I not sure how upload a pic here.

If I am asking this in the wrong forum I APOLOGIZE & please direct me to the correct one.

Link to tweet

/photo/1

[Panich52]

1. Check w/ nearest university.

History dept of univ may have someone w/ expertise.

Couple ways to post pic—Photobucket & Twitter maybe easiest.

[SkyDaddy7]

9. Thank-you for the tip!

On how to post pics.

[Panich52]

34. Good luck

[tblue37]

2. Maybe PM DU member yuyoshida. nt

[SkyDaddy7]

5. YES!! I did not think about that!

Thank-you!!

[SkyDaddy7]

7. I wonder if...

she (Unless I confusing her for another member, regardless) changed her user name because the system says there is no user by the name "yuyoshida"...Not even a partial match.

Thanks anyway for the help.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. what tblue said

send a DU mail to yuyoshida.

[SkyDaddy7]

8. Any chance that member...

changed their username? No one found by that username...Not even a partial match.

[Cha]

15. It's spelled like this, SkyDaddy.. yuiyoshida

[SkyDaddy7]

16. Thank-you for the correction but...

It still shows zero results or partial results...I wonder they changed their username? Odd.

[Cha]

17. That is weird.. Well here's her DU mail...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=inbox&action=send&rid=307579

[SkyDaddy7]

18. Thank-you!!

I'm curious...How did you get to that? When I enter the user name in my "Send DU Mail to:" I get "zero results".

Anyway, I sent a message via the link you gave me...Hopefully, they get it.

Thank-you so much!

[Cha]

19. I found her name in Videos and Media and

just clicked on that..

You're Welcome

[SkyDaddy7]

20. Gotcha!! nt.

[tblue37]

31. Sorry about the misspelling! nt

[SkyDaddy7]

35. No problem.

Thanks for trying to help me.

[truebluegreen]

27. Yuiyoshida eom

[SkyDaddy7]

29. Thank-you...I found them. nt.

[unc70]

4. Google Translate

Google Translate app can translate from a photo or from the camera. It probably can do what you need.

[SkyDaddy7]

6. Thank-you...But...

I have already tried the app but it is not reading the pic I have. It is old piece of carved wood so I can see why an app might have issues. But thanks for tip anyway.

[JI7]

10. i would love to see what it looks like if you can figure out how to post here

i couldn't translate it though.

are there colleges or other schools near you that teach japanese ? or some japanese centers ?

[SkyDaddy7]

13. Here it is...

I just figured out how to post pics. LOL!

Link to tweet

/photo/1

[SkyDaddy7]

14. I assume it is Japanese...

It was with an Empire of Japan flag & he was fighting in the Pacific Islands.

[DFW]

11. My brother's wife is from Japan

If what you have is in Japanese, I imagine she could read it with no problem.

[SkyDaddy7]

12. Cool!

See if this link works...I assume it is Japanese considering he was fighting in the Pacific Islands & it was with other WW2 artifacts including an Empire of Japan flag with the signatures of everyone he was with.

Thank-you so much for helping.

Link to tweet

/photo/1

[betsuni]

21. The left part is a name, Watanabe

Watanabe Kihachiro, numeber 4656. Had to wait until the Japanese husband came home. He can't tell if it's an address or an ID number or a prison number or what. Some sort of ID.

[SkyDaddy7]

22. WOW!!

So, it could've been a make shift "dog tag" perhaps? This person probably wanted to be identified, maybe?

Anyway, thank-you so very much!!!

[betsuni]

23. You're welcome.

I wonder where it was found. In Japan or elsewhere, do you know?

[SkyDaddy7]

24. It had to have been found...

During the fighting somewhere in the South Pacific Islands. Her Father never went to Japan. There was also an Empire of Japan flag with everything he had. The flag had signatures of all his fellow soldiers who were there with him.

Just curious...Was the picture oriented correctly? Was the text right side up?

[betsuni]

25. The flag with signatures would be from his hometown, family and friends,

from what I've seen on TV shows about the war. Yes, the text was right side up.

[SkyDaddy7]

28. The signatures were...

fellow American soldiers...Probably the guys in the same platoon or whatever who captured the flag.

Sorry, I should've said that to start.

[betsuni]

30. Ah, I see.

[DFW]

32. Here is her response

Middle Column is the person's name ( Lastname and Firstname WATANABE KIHACHIROU - I can't tell the the first letter of his first name)
Last Column is his lastname in Katakana ( WATANABE)
First Column I do not know if it is his title or something with numbers 4656
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the way, "Katakana" is one of the three forms of writing used in Japanese. They use "Kanji" which is the Chinese form of writing, "Hiragana," which is a syllable "alphabet" usually used only for Japanese words, and "Katakana," which is another syllable alphabet, somewhat simplified (if you're Japanese, that is!), and the one usually used to form foreign words, but sometimes proper names as well.

[SkyDaddy7]

36. Thank-you!!!!

Tell her how thankful I am, please!!

[DFW]

37. I will

Seems to have been confirmed elsewhere as well

[SkyDaddy7]

38. Yes, and...

I really appreciate the help from everyone & the especially the details on the type of Japanese used.

My mother in law was very happy as well! So that was nice!

[PoliticAverse]

26. DU has an Asian group...

you can also try posting there...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1250

[grantcart]

33. Yes, and yuoyoshida posts regularly

usually about a band or a recipe lol