Painted Souvenir Japanese “Diary” Helmet

A Japanese helmet that was very artistically painted as a souvenir for an American soldier or sailor, and which records his service locations during the war. The helmet bears painted notations of “Pearl Harbor”, “China Sea”, “Panama”, “Saipan”, “Okinawa”, and “Palau”. The top and front of the helmet is strikingly painted, in an “Asian” font, with “Tokyo Bay Aug. 30”, presumably the last stop in the travels, the date being two days before the surrender of the Japanese in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. The rear of the helmet bears a large painted rising sun flag of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Below the flag are three Japanese kanji which read “Tokyo Sea” apparently the painted of the helmet didn’t realize that the kanji for the words “sea” and “bay” are different. The helmet has the burlap liner ad cloth chin ties that are found in World War II Japanese Civil Defense helmets, and a there is a star affixed to the front. Overall a very impressive souvenir helmet that was created by a talented artist.