While rain hammered down outside, John and his parents decided to clear out some unwanted items from John’s grandfather’s attic. This seemingly mundane task turned out to be a big adventure for John as he came across, quite dramatically, an old wooden chest. The mystery was made complete with a logo and an inscription. Find out what the contents of the grandpa’s chest were.
The chest had this logo which appeared to John as belonging to a medical institution. And he was right about it, too. His grandfather fought in the Pacific theater during WW2. Exploring further, John found something interesting scribbled onto the chest.
The writing was in Japanese, so John needed a bit of internet intervention to help figure out what it meant. Turns out, the word had something to do with natural gas, connecting it back to the front logo of a medical red cross.
But, the year on the chest was 1932, and US did not enter the war until 1940. John recounted his story on the internet and a lot of theories sprang as to where that chest might be coming from.
John finally had the truth. The chest was a Japan’s Showa Era replica. It was the time between 1926-89 when Japan was ruled by Emperor Hirohito. It was a medical kit designed to be air and water proof. That sounded great to John as the contents inside would remain in perfect condition even after all these years.
The medical kit, when opened, revealed piles and piles of pills and medicinal bottles with Japanese labels.
