BCOF in Kure. Nijimura town

I am an Australian citizen born in Kure, Hiroshima province in 1949 when my father was a member of the Australian army serving in the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF). The BCOF was housed in a large town called Nijimura constructed near the port of Kobe.

I left Jaoan as a small child and have never returned. I am now planning to visit Kure in the coming year or two and would very much like to make contact with anyone with knowledge of Nijimura and children born there.

Hi Peter,

Unfortunately I cannot help you directly, but you might be interested in the book "Children of the Occupation" by Australian Journalist Walter Hamilton. You could possibly search for his contact details via LinkedIn or something to get some leads. I am sure he would be able to assist given his research in this area.

http://www.amazon.com/Children-Occupation-Japans-untold-story-ebook/dp...

Interesting.
I searched in the internet and found a short study report about BCOF in Japanese.
CHIDA Takeshi: On the study about BCOF and related documents in Japan
http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/ajrp2.nsf/Japanese/CCC0C78E0EFF370ECA256BC...
Mr. Chida studied about BCOF as an author of the History of Kure-City.
BCOF was in charge of occupation of Chugoku and Shikoku region and headquartered in Kure. Mr. Chida found there were some friendly relationships between BCOF officers and Japanese people.
This document is shown on the website of the Australia-Japan Research Project.
Australia-Japan Research Project has quit their research activity.
Contact the Australian War Memorial, an Australian government office. You will find good information about BCOF.
http://www.awm.gov.au/

I don�ft know about Kure, but on the map, there is a large park called Nijimura Park in Hirotagaya, Kure city.

Thank you friends

I too was born at the BCOF base in 1951. Son of an English mother and father. My dad joined the Australian army when he came to Australia. I have a few personal anecdotes and some photos. I'd be very interested to know how your planned trip went. I would love to visit the place.

We have a BCOF Japan Kids Facebook page, and Peter (who posted the initial query) has now "found" our group, and we will be able to give him the information he was seeking.
Andrew, if you contact me through the BCOF Japan Kids Facebook page, you will be in touch with other dependents who also lived in Japan (we have a couple of English members, too!), and share your stories and your photos.

We lived in the Austrailian housing in Njamura in 1951. I was 12 years old and vivedley remember the sea wall and many other wonderful experiences there. I remember we attended school on the island of Eta Jima.

My father was in the U,S. army stationed in Eta Jima an island in Hiroshima bay. I was 11 years old and we had to go to school in Nijimura. Every day we took the ferry or an LST to nijimura. I remember seeing many Australian soldiers in Kure.