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I agree, the set looks to be Japanese, probably made during the Occupation for service personnel or possibly, for export. The engraving is quintessentially Japanese.
This combination of marks, with USF and "STERLING" along with a mark using a Chinese character, also looks Japanese to me. I have no definite ID on these marks, so what follows is speculation. The third mark is the character 明 (commonly read "mei" or "myo") inside a star, which suggests the maker's name most likely was Mei-something, like Meiji Metal Manufacturing. (Many Japanese companies founded in the Meiji era took names that included either Meiji or "mei"). In the first half of the twentieth century, many Japanese trademarks incorporated this five-pointed star. I believe this five-pointed star carried the meaning of "registered trademark." (For a similar example of such a trademark, see Shimizu Shoten in the Contributors' Notes.)
My current thinking is that a "sterling" mark on Japanese silver is almost always an indication of postwar production, and that the lack of any national mark of nation of origin points toward the years of the Occupation, when Japan's reputation in the world was at its lowest ebb and "Made in Japan" or "Made in Occupied Japan" was anything but a selling point.
As for the USF mark, I wonder if it isn't the mark of an importer of Japanese work. The silver components may have been made in Japan (when skilled labor was still cheap) and then exported to a second place (US most likely) to be assembled with US-made plastics.
I cannot tell from the photos if the brushes have synthetic bristles or whether the bristles are mounted in a synthetic or wooden base, but if so, that would surely point to a production date of 1930 or later.
Many thanks for the detailed reply which makes complete sense.
As for U.S.F. possibly being a mark of an importer, then there may be the possibility that the 'S.F.' part of the mark being for San Francisco, a city that I believe was home to many ex-pat Japanese.
