I've been attempting to figure out who is on the card. I think the regular first baseman for the Carp during those years was Makoto Kozuru but the kanji doesn't look right for him. I think the baserunner is Jun Hakota of the Kokutetsu Swallows - he wore uniform number 3, the uniform looks like the Swallows uniform from 1955-1959 (with the stripe on the sleeve) and the kanji looks like it might fit - the second character is pretty clearly "ta".
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Handwritten kanji are really tough - I would send a hi-resolution .jpg to Deanna to see if she can read the names. By the way, the other possible reading of the "ta" kanji is "da". Many kanji have more than one reading.
I'm going to order the new Vintage Checklist and see if this and some of the other odd bromides I've gotten in the last year are in there.
One of the things I've wondered about this particular kanji is whether there's really any difference between "ta" and "da" in Japanese - is it possible that they are actually pronounced the same way?
They must be pronounced differently, because both Japanese syllabaries, Hiragana and Katakana, have different characters for "ta" and "da". In both cases, the "ta" character is modified with double-apostrophe-like marks (``) to give "da". Clearly, the sounds are related. Note that Toyota cars were begun by Kiichiro Toyoda. This is typically Japanese, and a little confusing. Many similar pairs exist. "Te" is modified with "``" to give "de", "to" becomes "do", etc.
I asked someone at work with some Japanese language knowledge about this today and he said that you're correct, "ta" and "da" are distinct sounds with the same kanji. He pointed out the same thing you did - that the Hiragana and Katakana are different for the sounds.
They are Hiromu "Godzilla" Fujii (Carp) and Jun Hakoda (Swallows).
Thanks!
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