Is That What That's Called....

Last week a co-worker was asking around the office about a strange kanji.  Given his extensive knowledge of kanji, it's not too often that he's stumped by an unusual character.  One other co-worker didn't have a clue but a student who had just arrived for his class was able to explain right away.  The character in question wasn't a character.  It was a symbol.

The culprit in question was the blue symbol above the backhoe pictured on the side of the vending machine.  The name given to such a symbol is "yagou", 屋号.  Typically they are easy to distinguish from kanji but this one was close enough to resemble a kanji character.

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 Following the 1/700 B-Resina HMS Suffolk is a 1/700 representation of the Aiyo Maru.  I say "representation" in this case because the kit doesn't bear too much resemblance to a respectable rendering of a model ship.  A poor quality casting coupled with inaccurate details and a questionable design choice of casting the hull in three pieces results in a sight for sore eyes.  The manufacturer has been casting hulls in sections for over twelve years though their initial offerings from about twenty to twenty-five years ago had hulls cast as single pieces.  I suspect that option was chosen to avoid the problem of warped or hogged hulls.  But other manufacturers have managed to find a solution to the problem without resorting to this odd ball technique of splitting the hull into short sections.

A few years ago a reviewer on a model ship forum described a ship kit made by this manufacturer as a bar of soap.  Some wag quickly chirped that if the kit was a bar of soap then at least it would be useful....