Featured Portrait photo 3 Japanese soldiers or sailors - WWII

I posted this a long time ago to see if anyone had any thoughts about the actual date or the item itself.

First, my bio father was in Japan right after the war, but I have no idea if he collected this himself. He and my mother were married in 1945 and I was born in 1949. Two years later he and my aunt fell in love. My mother divorced him so he could marry her sister and about a year after that he took off never to be seen again. Neither my mother nor aunt would talk about him so I have zero information.

Second, my mother and stepfather had second hand stores and did flea markets and picked up a lot of unusual stuff so this could just be something she found and kept. I'm still, twenty years after she passed, opening boxes because when they moved down here to Cape Cod after his stroke they packed up the store and their house and it was overwhelming at the time.

Anyway, throw some ideas my way. It's just curiosity at this point. It's 4"x6"

 

Are you sure they're not schoolboys?

Debora

 

They do look very young. I was thinking maybe cadets? Also to state the obvious,but did you research that laurel looking stamp/seal? Maybe someone can just translate the wording and then we’ll should know..

 

I ran it through Google Translate and Lens. First wasn't terribly helpful and second no similars.

Debora

 

A really precious image, far more so for the families of those boys.
Try here for the seal translation: https://asianart.com/phpforum/index.php; it may yield the name of the school or unit they belong to.
You have their names...
With those, close examination of their uniforms could reveal clues as well...
I believe it's well worth pursuing...as long as you're in the mood! Very best of luck, Bev!
Please let us hear the long story, when it resolves!
EDIT: I find it odd that the names are in very legible English. That makes me suspect it was from before the war (pre-1941), or post-war, 1945-1952 perhaps.

 

There's an excellent possibility all three boys enlisted or were conscripted into the Japanese military during the second Sino Japanese War or WWII.You might be able to find them listed in Japanese military records from 1937 to 1945 or later-you have names and images.

 

I wonder if they weren't students at an international school. That would explain their names written in English. And the badges on their caps appear to be in the Latin alphabet. "A" something.

Debora

 

What a VERY COOL picture......hope you can find more info, @Bev

 

Also, what about the wood-block type image on the cover? It seems familiar, but I can't place it. There's gotta be a clue there, eh?