Japanese Medal/Award Identification

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1
I have a WW2 Japanese medal/award left to me by my Grandfather that I would like to identify. I've been googling all over the place and have yet to find the same medal.

I have contacted a few War memorabilia shops but haven't heard back from them yet.

It would be great to know what it says in the item.

I thought I'd stick some picks on here, you never know, someone may be an expert...

This is a pic of the front:

And the rear:

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For sure, on the front, the single word (赏) is "Shang" - means award in Mandarin. But the medal is written in Kanji - very similar to Mandarin.

At the back, top line:

As this is rather old, we read the words from right to left, rather than the usual left to right these days.

(from right to left) 山口县立 - this is a place in Japan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaguchi_Prefecture

(from right to left) 岩国中学校 - a quick search on Google tells me that this is a secondary/high school there:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B2%...AD%A6%E6%A0%A1

So based on my amateur reading of Kanji, this is an award from that school which was started only in 1947. So this medal is post WW2 then? I might be wrong, get it verified by experts. How did your grandfather get it? My curiousity is all piqued!!

3
Thanks so much for your help.

Well, my grandad told me it was given to him by a captured Japanese Captain during WW2. Although now that you mentioned it possibly comes from a school, it seems my grandad was winding me up . Now I am more confused than before.

I'm not sure what went on over there but a couple of Japanese ladies turned up at his house in the '50's or '60's claiming to be his daughters or something. It was all hush hush.

4
Sorry to have confused you even further.

I might be wrong since my native tongue isnt Japanese. Its best to get it verified by experts in WW2, historians or even fellow EFers who are native Japanese. Good luck!