Yokohama Navy Exchange was where?

Thank you for pointing out the book...I am indeed interested and will find it if I can...hope you and everyone else are well. I have not forgotten this wonderful site/thread of conversation, but I have been really busy...my new volunteer task of being on my co-op apt building's Board is unbelievably time consuming and difficult...and a little bit like being on a tv reality show...probably we are a typical building, but the cast of characters, the various complaints and incidents, and all the business of running a place with 240 apartments is staggering....

In the meanwhile, I did run across the following...of especial interest to those of you who live on the West Coast..


Live Fish Found In Likely Tsunami Debris
By Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer | LiveScience.com – 1 hr 28 mins ago


The strangest stowaways yet have arrived on U.S. shores via debris possibly from the 2011 Japan tsunami: Live fish.
The fish, which live off the coast of Japan and Hawaii, apparently made their way across the Pacific in a drifting 18-foot (5.5 meter) skiff. Of the five fish that made the journey, one is still alive and is being kept at the Seaside Aquarium in Oregon.
"These fish could have been originally from Japanese waters, or they could have been picked up going close by the Hawaii coast," said Allen Pleus, the aquatic invasive species coordinator at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
This is the first time live vertebrates (animals with backbones) have been found in tsunami debris.
A fishy discovery
When the devastating tsunami hit Japan in March 2011, it dragged some 5 million tons of debris into the Pacific Ocean, according to Japanese government estimates. Most of this likely sunk immediately, but approximately 1.5 million tons floated away from Japan's coastlines.
No one knows how much of that is still adrift, but pieces of tsunami debris have been washing ashore in Alaska, British Columbia and along the U.S. West Coast and Hawaiian islands ever since. Some of this debris has harbored potential invasive species, most notably two floating docks that beached in Washington and Oregon.
But those docks held plant life and invertebrates such as limpets and barnacles. Fish, much less live ones, are a rare find. The fish were found in a back compartment of a small fiberglass boat called the Saisho-Maru, which was discovered March 22 near Long Beach, Wash.
The Japanese government has not yet confirmed that the skiff was lost in the tsunami, but it has a registration number from the region where the wave hit, Pleus told LiveScience. The boat floated partially submerged with its stern a few feet under the ocean's surface, and the lidless compartment became a "little cave" where the fish could hide, Pleus said.
The boat also hosted algae, several crabs, marine worms, a sea cucumber (never found before on other debris, Pleus said), scallops and blue mussels. All told, it was a perfect mini-ecosystem for the stowaway fish. [See images of the stowaway species]

Those are amazing findings, Steffi! That fish could remain alive that long in those conditions is just wild! Like you said, they built their own ecosystem!
I tried my hand at a Haiku, Peter!
Senses Awake Now!
Time for Fun! Let's Run! Let's Fly!
For Spring is Here Again!
For me Spring has brought a lot of great opportunities! I recently saw "End of the Rainbow" in Los Angeles starring Tracie Bennett who was in the play in New York. She was excellent. It is about the last months of Judy Garland's life. Though it is a play, there were quite a few songs in it, which was great! Next Saturday, I will see Barbara Cook who played the original Marian the Librarian in The Music Man on Broadway with Robert Preston. Then next month, I am flying to St Louis, Missouri, to go to a Cardinal's game on Andy Cohen night. June I have tickets to see Bernadette Peters and I was just able to get tickets to see Audra McDonald in her tour. She is coming to our L.A. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. I love the theatre, especially musicals.
When I lived in Japan, I saw Van Cliburn in Tokyo. My Grandmother was a pianist who always favored Van Cliburn. I was able to get backstage to get his autograph, and I was always shocked that he gave me a very hearty handshake too. I thought he would have guarded his hands more. I also remember seeing Stevie Wonder, Martha and the Vandellas, Lou Rawls, Gerry Lewis and the Playboys. We had quite a few big names that came to Yokohama. Though I think Stevie was at the Yokosuka base. I got Lou Rawls autograph and he told me that his daughter's name was Louann, only spelled differenly. When I saw Stevie Wonder, he was just a boy! They led him onto the stage, and he started singing. Not really a stage because the room was more like a cafeteria/auditorium. At the end, they carried him off, while he was still singing! He did not look like he needed help, more like he was having a hell of time and they were holding him back! I asked for Stevie's autograph, and got something back from Backstage that looked a little "too good" to be true!
So, as you can see, I collect autographs. My best, so far, has been Barbra Streisand. I buy them too. My best buy is a hard one to say. I have quite a few. My great great grandmother passed an autograph book down through the family. In this book are Ulysses S Grant, Buffalo Bill Cody, Rutherford B. Hayes, Oscar Wilde, and many more. I have done my best to fill in the Presidents.
I still have my evil twin and my Mt.Fuji trip to get to, but I have taken enough of your time up. Spring has sprung and so have I!

You are making the most of life and having a great time, obviously....good for you!

About Van Cliburn..I remember seeing him in Lewisohn Stadium, here in uptown NYC on the CCNY campus...this was a huge outdoor arena featuring great musical talent for a pittance.Cliburn appeared there right after his triumph as the first American to win the Russian Tchaikovsky piano competition....I sat very near him, and he had the larges hands I'd ever seen....he could play a full octave without stretching his hand out....as you probably know, he recently died, in Texas where he lived, and oversaw a famous piano competition, named after himself....

Yes, I knew he had died. I have a friend who I play a morbid game with which we have called the Death Game! Whenever a celebrity, star, national headliner dies, we race to our phone and call eachother. Whoever makes the call first-Wins! Yesterday our phone lines were very busy, what with Margaret Thatcher and Annette Funicello. I got them both. My friend lives in Sonoma and she works. I am retired and so I sometimes have an advantage! I live in Laguna Niguel. It is very near the Ocean. When the fog is not around, I can see the ocean from my bedroom. We are about 10 or 15 miles away. This is in California, if I did not mention this before.
Today I am traveling home to the Valley, Van Nuys, to see my 88 year old Mother, who still lives at home. She has people who come in and care for her. I bought her an easy portable CD player that I hope she will be able to play or get some help playing, and a bunch of old CD's (Nat King Cole, Buddy Greco, Frank Sinatra, Robert Goulet). She has not listened to music in a long time, and I know she use to love to play her records and tapes years ago. So, this should be fun! It is about an hour and a half drive.
I recently purchased Yokohama Yankee from Amazon. It was written by Leslie Helm, the sister of one of my classmates, Chris Helm. He was in my graduating class of 1970 at Nile C. Kinnick, Yo-Hi. I have not read it yet, but look forward to it!
Just saw an article on AOL about those striped beak fish that were found on that boat from the Japan tsunami. Fascinating.

Piled up..
as high as a mountain...
now a pathetic patch.....
goodbye snow....

[however we may not be completely out of the woods yet...we'll see]
Love to all

You sound like a good daughter...

Your Mom might also enjoy getting a small, portable dvd player....easy to use, and she can use it anywhere....proportionally a huge picture, since it can be held so close to your face if she wants. Ours is about 15 inches or so in diameter.. We have a SONY, with incredibly clear sound and picture, which I recommend.

Then get her some of the old movies she might have enjoyed also... ...

Thank you, Steffi, for your kind words!
That is a great idea about the DVD and old movies. My Mother's favorite viewing pleasure is watching the Los Angeles Dodgers. She is one of their biggest fans! Woe be to the San Francisco Giants when they play them, lol.
It has certainly been a sad time for the country with the bombings in Boston. Such a Tragedy! Wonderful that a capture and arrest was made so soon! I hope they don't keep the attention on the bomber when positive praises can be given to other agencies and support to those affected by the bombings could be encouraged and publicized.

Golden sun shines bright,
Not real warm, still cool at night.
Summer's promise holds.

Lori
very nice
i personally try to avoid the western sing-songey feel.
but i really like this one.

Thanks, Peter. Glad you like it.
Maybe the ''Western sing-songy'' feel is a ''girl thing'' (?)

Lori
could be..
Im not deep enough...
to understand....
a girl thing......

When in doubt....
ask your parrot.....
they know all....
and see all....

Hello everyone, Japan is consecutive holidays. This is Honmoku Navy housing, commentary is Japanese. Enjoy!!

http://japanontop.com/view.php?video=sj3Mn0U6SD4&title=%E3%80%90%E6%9C...

Hey its my old neighborhood..

Kaoru-san. Give us an idea of what the man was saying.
Was it just a simple description of the area, or was there some other reason.

Enjoy your holiday.

Thank you for that link, Kaoru san. I watched it and found it most interesting. I shared it on Facebook with my friends from Yokohama.
I climbed Mt Fuji with my twin brother in the Summer of 1968, right before my Senior Year. We started our journey on pack horses, thinking we could conserve energy that way. You start on Station 5. A bus takes you there.
This horse idea was not good. The poor horses were wheezing for air! They had been ridden into the ground. I was sick for them. Plus, they were so tired that their footing was very oft kilter and they tended to trip and stumble. This was particularly stressful when we were near the edge of a cliff. This was the only scary part of the Climb for me! Once I was down off the bedraggled beast, I did not worry about my safety.
We had started our climb at 8:30 pm. The horses took us about an hour towards our goal. At 9:30 pm, we began our ascent, which was basically an upwards walk. So, we walked and walked and walked. After an hour or so, I asked to take a break and have a graham cracker and some iced tea which we had brought in a canteen. My brother, a football player, was not keen on stopping. However, it was our first break, so he allowed it. He was not hungry. I opened my foil wrapped graham crackers and enjoyed one. My brother was not happy to be carrying them and said, "This is a Waste!" I told him I would carry them. But, he heaved them off the Mountain. Not only was it littering, it was selfish. We got back in the line of people that were walking up the Mountain. Oh yes, there were lots of people all around.
We carried a very important wooden pole for our walking stick. We would need this much more for our climb descending the Mountain. An important tradition done to the wooden sticks was a branding at each station along the way of our climb. We did not realize this at first, but, we soon caught on. They charged 30 yen or so.
The horses had taken us to what we finally grasped to be Station 6. We walked forever to get to Station 7. As we finally approached what we thought was Station 8, we got our Sticks ready for a Branding, only to find out we were in Station 7-1. Of course, there was a branding stamp for that. And, little places you could get a cup of soba. I was ready for a break. My brother was not. He was in a foul mood. I started to take out my graham crackers and he asked me for one. I said, "You threw yours away. No!" With that, he overpowered me, and took my crackers away! "Give them back," I said. "Oh, who wants a cracker now?" he replied. I should have said, "Polly!" I don't remember if he gave them back to me or not. He went ahead and I rested for about 15 minutes. I had to catch my breath. Then I decided that the Top was Station 10 and I would get there by putting one foot in front of the other. I was not a person who had done much physical activity. This was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life. I was determined to get to the Finish Line. Going down the "Other Side" was not an option!
After the break, I started again. The walking had become steeper. This went on for a good 45 minutes, when I heard a guttural, "It's about time! I've been waiting here forever!" Wow! It was my brother! I was glad to see him. I thought we could sit for a spell and compare notes. But, no! There would be no stopping! I couldn't figure out why he had stayed there for me. I learned, years later, that my Mother had paid him money to keep me in his sights!
Soon we were at Station 8, 8-1, 8-2, 8-3, and on to 9 and its Stations finally reaching Station 10 at Sunrise, 4:30 am! It had taken us 8 hours. What a climb! We made it! Let's look around. We looked in the middle of the crater. There were no barriers. We get a little stamp. I think, this is not very fancy for The Top of Mt Fuji! I am looking at the clouds and taking in the view and the feeling of accomplishment when my brother informs me we must leave. We have been there for less than 5 minutes. We are preparing to start down the Mountain and a kind Japanese man looks at my stick and starts making a fuss about my branding stamps. Apparently, there is another Top of Mt Fuji stamp and I am not leaving without it, to my brother's dismay. I have told him to go without me. For some reason, he does not! Lol! The stamp is fantastic! It costs 100 yen!
You do not climb down the mountain. It is lava rock. You go down with your heels in the lava rock in a very specific maneuver. This is where the Walking Stick comes in very handy for balance. Coming down the Mountain took half the time as going up. If memory serves me right, it was about 4 hours. My calves felt the work out from this part of the climb, for days and days after.
I still count this Climb as one of the greatest Accomplishments of my Life because it was sheer Willpower.

May 1st, 1955.
A day earlier, my mother had taken dad to Haneda airport for a short trip to Korea and, on her return, parked the car in the street in front of our Sannotani house.
The following day, the Army's FEN Radio warned Americans to stay indoors or on the base as demonstrations were expected.
Sure enough, by mid day, the Zengakuran Students Federation staged a snake dance past the American shopping center and down Avenue D (Honmoku dori) toward our house. Zengakuran was a communist front organization and liked nothing better than to raise heck on May Day.
A couple dozen of the "students" spotted the car, a 5 year old Packard sedan. Gathering on one side, they rocked the car to the point it flipped over on its side, then over on its top, where it was promptly set afire. As a finishing touch, a hammer and sickle was painted on our front door.
Unfazed, my mom got up on a ladder and took pictures of the events from our fenced in back yard. Our maid, Masako, made her way to the dorm near the fire station in Area 2.
Dad returned a few days later and, ignoring the life threatening events, walked right by the burned out hunk; his first words were, "What the hell happened to the Packard?"

Muscular rivers
Leap roaring above their banks
Chicago springtime

Too quiet here. Someone needs to write something and I'm probably the most guilty of not checking in. Good Haiku, Arigato Peter-san, Lori-san, Geiru-san.
Good Fuji climb story Louann-san. Reminded me of my climb with the Boy Scouts when I was twelve in 1953 except that we walked all the way up from station 1 and pretty much slid all the way back down after reaching the top. My Fuji pole with all the burned in stamps got stolen when we transferred back to the states. We were told it was discarded because it had broken. Bull! Somebody got a souvenir without having to make the climb. I should have climbed it again when I was back with the Marine Corps in 64-65 but I never did. I made a fifty mile hike instead from Atsugi. JFK had mentioned some old Marine Corps 50 mile hike requirement and naturally we all made one. I wish I could be young again and do a fifty mile hike and then go to town afterward.

Dave-san,

I am happy to know that you are well. Although these links are Japanese, they are told about Yokohama Navy Housing, and others. It is regrettable that I cannot translate Japanese. Please enjoy pics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sa-9olgNo8&feature=endscreen&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57eNLerJ7x8&NR=1&feature=endscreen

I remember Father Sebastian vividly. I chose him as my confessor over the priests at St. Joseph College because he was much more comforting and easier to talk to. Also, he presided over the CYO dances in the basement of the parish where YoHi students got together with students from St. Maur's and St. Joe's. Father Sebastian was really cool ( in the lingo of the early '60s. ) I spoke to a successor of Fr. Sebastian who told me he died over a decade ago. I can still picture him in his brown Franciscan robe. He used to visit the Whalen's house near Honmoku Beach, Hachioji Beach to be more precise.

Kaoru, thank you for the wonderful videos. Old cars, old music, old familiar places and attractive new changes -- cherry blossoms lining the streets of Honmoku? -- plus attractive narrators. I wish that I could understand Japanese better, but it was fun to attend to the body language and hear an occasional familiar word or two and a few American place names. Maybe someday technology will automatically translate for us. It was fun to see the interior photos of the American dependent housing with the mid-century modern government-issue furniture, including even the old washing machine, that I remember in our house on the Bluff. I loved the color photo that showed the sparkling blue bay near Areas 1 & 2 instead of the industrial "improvements" that I believe are there today. Thanks, Kaoru!