Japanese token?

[inka]

Hi guys. A friend found this piece in a German Kriegsmarine base in Northern Norway. Is it Japanese and WW2,,or if not do anyone know what it is?

[ghp95134]

I don't know what the source is ... Japanese or Chinese [or Korean], or what the item is, but it means "fortune/luck"

福
fuku

-- Guy

[inka]

Thank you!! I hope someone can know anything more about it?

[Nick Komiya]

Though that character for "Happiness" is also used in Japan, it is used most widely in China as a good luck charm, exhibited upside down (not to let the luck run away). These days, it is typically seen on the doors of Chinese restaurants.

The Germans must have picked up this custom while being stationed in Quingdao China, before WW1, as this charm was famously used on a Tiger tank of SS Division Das Reich in WW2. Japanese modellers call it the "Happy Tiger".

If found at an U-boat base, it's most likely a souvenir from Singapore. Definitely not Japanese.

[ghp95134]

Nick,

I’m familiar with that DR photo from Wenn Aller Brueder Schweigen, but I never noticed the upside-down “fuku” kanji. I’ve always wondered why that was placed upside down (my neighbors are Chinese); now I know.

Many thanks,
— Guy