Offered is an original 1935 Japanese printed graduation commemoration program from Urashima Elementary School, Yokohama City, dating to the pre–World War II Shōwa era.
This multi-page folded program features period typography, student and faculty names, essays, and editorial content, and includes a photographic image of the school building. The document provides a rare civilian perspective on Japanese daily life and education immediately prior to the wartime period.
ProvenanceThis item was acquired in Japan by a U.S. Army serviceman of the 98th Signal Battalion, Company B, during the Allied Occupation following World War II and has remained in continuous family possession until acquisition by the current owner. Supporting service documentation, including the veteran’s honorable discharge, is available and will be provided privately to serious, vetted buyers upon request.
ConditionThe program remains complete and intact, showing expected age-related wear including folds, toning, and light edge wear consistent with an original civilian paper item from the 1930s. No restoration or modern alterations.A period typed note on the front cover, reading ‘The school doesn’t look like this now!,’ reflects the original U.S. serviceman’s postwar observation and has been left untouched.
This piece represents an uncommon survival of pre-war Japanese civilian printed material, preserved through wartime disruption and occupation, and offers meaningful historical value to collectors of WWII-era ephemera, Japanese social history, and Allied Occupation material.
