Help translation of old paper from japanese ww2 tunic

[unimoc]

Hi,
In a japanese tunic I found this paper inside a pocket.
Is it something important/interesting

[NH3CL]

This is a food/bread ticket.

Tip.: Grab you phone, and install Google Translate. You can use your camera for translate any text.

[ghp95134]

Yes, meal ticket to purchase items made with flour.

粉食券
Funshoku-ken
Powdered Food Meal Ticket
[foods made from flour]

三食分
Three servings
390瓦 Grams 相當量 Equivalent amount

岐阜縣
Gifu-ken
Gifu Prefecture

Reverse has "Information". Item 1 states:

"With this ticket one can purchase bread, raw noodles, boiled noodles,..." etc. I'll not read the rest.

Cheers,
-- Guy

[unimoc]

Yes....good Idea....
I installed the translator

Now I have a food stamp from 1952 in a ww2 tunic....interesting

[ghp95134]

You're right about the date, post-war; however S26.1.10 is 1951 January 10. I didn't even look at it until you mentioned it.

-- Guy

Edit:
December [十二月] (30 Meals)
VALID until 10 January 1951

[Akira Komiya]

Because of the shortages of clothing in the postwar era, the wear of surplus army clothing by civilians was nothing unusual but was rather the norm so it’s nothing to wonder about.
However, in most cases the bayonet loop on the rear of the tunic would have been removed in civilian use.
I even once saw an old man on a bicycle wearing a last ditch 2 pocket tunic still complete with the bayonet loop as late as 1980 when visiting Himeji castle.
It may sound incredible but you still needed a ration book to buy rice in Japan until 1969. Until then, all rice production was bought up by the government and then sold to the population through specially licensed rice sellers at a price lower than what the government paid the farmers and no special varietals were allowed (premium varietals still had to be mixed with lower quality rice to produce “standard rice, 標準米”).

[unimoc]

Yes...even England suffered food shortages lasting to the mid 1950s.
A little story:
The former chancellor Helmut Schmidt wrote in one of his Books (Auf eine Zigarette mit Helmut Schmid), that he was visited by some englisch Friends in 1948. They got potato salad and hot dog. His guest Nocker White, Schmidt reported, said to his wife: and I thought we had won the war...

I was astonished to find the paper in this tunic. Heavily worn, especially the inside of the collar is totally destroyed, but it still has all insignia. Was it allowed in the post war era to wear this in Japan?

[Akira Komiya]

The tunic has clearly been restored (the original smooth brass buttons have been replaced with buttons for students in military schools with the cherry blossom) so it is likely that the ration booklet was placed in the pocket by whoever restored it although it is highly unusual to see the collar flashes intact. They do appear to have been originally sewn on but you can check whether they were by checking whether the lower edge of the collar flashes are rolled into the seam attaching the collar to the body of the tunic. (The collar flashes on officers tunics were attached to the collar before the collar was sewn on to the body of the tunic and the excess material on the lower edges of the collar flashes would be rolled into the seam attaching the collar to the body.)
Although wear of an old style tunic complete with collar flashes after the war would have been extremely unlikely, there were no restrictions on wearing such so long as you were willing to brave the abuse which would have been heaped upon you by the masses for dragging them into the misery. However, the Army did issue directives that all star insignia on headgear be removed for civilian wear shortly after the war.

[unimoc]

Hi
Thank you for your informations. E.g. it was unknown to me that the collars had been sewn to the tunic in the way you described. The problem is the lack of really good literature.
I only have " Imperial Japanese Army and Navy." Beautiful pictures but no real informations...

Below pictures of the tunic.
A very dubious piece.
Very professional sewn emblems and buttons, the stitches of the emblems do not go through the collar...but when you see the bad shape of the collar one may ask why so much work for this tunic...there are repairs at both ellbows so I think the tunic was worn for a long time after the war, but so much efford of sewing only for selling it for around 50 euro? The shoulder bords are more worth than the complete tunic

Maybe it was restored by someone who wanted to keep it as piece of history...this is not uncommon.
In my family we have decorations of a friend who is dead now, who was tank driver. His decorations had been stolen by an american Soldier and after the war our former friend aquired the same emblems as reproductions. From his point of view these had been his awards, but veterans did think in a different way about that than collectors...

[Akira Komiya]

Based on the photos you posted, unfortunately the collar flashes have been restitched, albeit very carefully.
I will attach a photo of the collar of an artillery officer's tunic showing the method of attachment of the collar flashes on officer's tunics.