Hey everyone. I know this may not be appropriate for this subreddit and I'll remove it if this is an issue, but would anyone know what this blue stamp is on this 78 record? It's heading over from Japan and I'd like to know if there's any significance to it.
This is the best photo I could get, unfortunately. I don't know too much on this record, but I'm certain it was pressed in the 1930s.
If anyone is interested, the song featured is "Warship March." (Not the exact song on the record, but the closest sounding I could find.)
The word in the stamp reads 報國 hōkoku, a popular nationalistic slogan meaning 'to return the favor of the country.' Encircling it is a petal of cherry blossoms, the symbol of the nation. Their short-livedness was also used as a metaphor glorifying death in a war.
Similar marks are imprinted on records pressed by Polydor Records from 1937 to 1938. In August 1937, following the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, an excise tax was imposed on records as luxury goods. It seems the company expressed support for the war by putting nationalistic marks on their products, perhaps to avoid further measures by the authorities, as well as to appeal to the general public. Seals of the same design are also found on some Polydor records in auction sites.