Yokohama Navy Exchange was where?

Dave-san
Well..yes and no, I am not chipping ice, I am chopping ice, and scraping it off of the walkways now. Temps have moderated a bit. We lost power from a windstorm. I must confess that last winter I didn't envy you but now I do. Driveway is still a 4 inch sheet of ice. I am like "Gollum" I love New Hampshire..I hate New Hampshire..Live FREE OR DIE.! I hope I don't take that too literally. I loved the photos. I wish I had a syonara party. My last night there, I was at Bayside Courts, my wife having gone ahead. I wanted to go party, but honestly I was too scared that something would happen and I would miss my flight I stayed in, and dumped all of the contraband I was carrying. Thats another story.

Thanks so much to Dave for the maps. We lived at 8-576 which is now a small mansion but the driveway is still there. Across the street there was a duplex which is now a small park with several lovely sakura. My wife and I lived in Negishi, directly across from Bryd School, from 03-06 when I was at MSC Far East at North Dock. It was from North Dock that my family both arrived and departed Japan. I visit Yokohama often and always walk and explore as much as I can. Always fun. Did anyone know Paul Beebe, Tommy Blalock or Richard Rainesburger?

Tracy, I see that you, Dave-san, and I lived not far from one another. if you still have the old map, I lived at #8-506 from 1952 to 1954, and, I believe, Dave-san lived at 8-599. He and I rode the same school bus to the Yo-Hi campus. Where our house once stood on a lovely piece of property on Yamate-cho, there is now a tennis court, and although the large old trees and landscaping are gone, the old wall, entrance gate, and one large evergreen tree at the corner remain as I remember them. From Google, I can see that the views from the Bluff have remarkably changed, now encompassing skyscrapers and urban sprawl where there once was a long view across an open urban plain all the way to a relatively undeveloped coast, the harbor, and the sea. Perhaps you can tell us more about what you remember during the era of #8-576 and the changes you've observed on return visits to Yokohama.

Dave-san, thank you for the link to Sacred Heart Cathedral. That is the best picture I've seen of the church, still much as I remember it, and I'm going to print it out. Thanks also for the report on Edokko!

Although there was a school bus that went down Sagiyama Ridge and up D Ave to school, I often walked or rode the trolley. The quickest way to get down to D Ave was a small set of stairs from a walkway that branced off between 8-591 & 8-592. At the top of the stairs, on the left, was a very small Shinto Shrine. I was always fascinated by its red and black color, fox guardians and offerings of food and coins. I must admit that once or twice I helped myself to some mikans and once a one yen coin or two. I always felt guilty about this and as an adult went there several times to leave a compensatory offering. Sadly the Shrine was torn down sometime in 06. I went by on a walk and it was gone, replaced by a small house. Time marches on but sometimes takes too much with it.

The name Tom Blalock is familiar. Were his parents involved in missionary work ?

Eric,
Yes, his parents were missionaries but he attended Jr High with me. He and I were in Miss Burke's English class and always sat in the back and made typhoon wind sounds......it drove her mad. How would you know his name?

Tracy:

I'm not sure how I remember Tom's parents. Seems to me that he lived on the Bluff, not too far from the International school.

It's been 50 years and memories are a little hazy. Do you remember Michael Potter or Mike Viscer or the Spratt kids ?

Eric,

I don't remember any of those names. What years were you there?

Does anyone remember Brenda Smith? She lived up Sagiyama Ridge from me in a duplex that had the remains of an old Japanese style garden in the yard.

We are having very beautiful weather here on the Tennessee River.

Tracy:

My folks and I were in Japan from 1951-1961. We lived in Sagamihara when dad worked at YED, then moved to Yokohama when he transfered to the Japan Procurement Agency. We lived at 91 Sannotani, across Avenue D from the middle gate to Area 2 housing. I went to school at Nasugbu Beach, then Yokohama International School, then back to "Beach," which had been renamed Nile C. Kinnick.
We made six crossings on MSTS in those ten years, returning to the US for various reasons. My last class was ms. Nelm's 6th grade at Kinnick in 60-61.

Eric,

We must be about the same age. I always looked forward to going down to the Exchange. The movie cost 25 cents, and I could get a grilled cheese sandwich, fries and a cherry coke for 25 cents as well.
I spent many an afternoon at the pool in Seaside #1. I remember there was a Japanese Elementary School next to the pool and the noise from both must have been off the scale. I also played Little League baseball at the fields over by the Seaside Club.

I am headed to Yokohama for most of the month of May. I go every year.

Tracy

Tracy:

The big pool in Area 1 was one of my summer haunts while growing up in Yokohama in the 50s. I took the Red Cross life saving course every year and was one of the few my age to jump from the high diving board at the pool's deep end.
There was a shower room between the dressing room and the pool. Us kids would turn all the showers to hot and create a big steam bath, mostly out of boredom.
Walking toward the nearest corner of the Area 1 fence at Avenue D and past the elementary school would bring me to a shopping area & book store. The book store was the secret Ten Yen Store where comic books from the 1940s and 50s magically appeared. Old Batman and Superman comics, in perfect condition, were sold for 10 Yen ($.03) per copy.
Little league baseball teams soaked up some of the summer tedium. I played fielder for the Athletics and Reds. When the Navy took over Yokohama, all the professional baseball names disappeared and we got new team names; the Sumariners, Destroyers, etc.
By 1961, some of the first construction for the Tokyo Olympics began to appear and it was time for Eric-san and family to go home.

Hi Tracy Peter here.
What a treat that you go to Japan every year. Many of us would just love to go back just one time..business or pleasure or both ?
I would just love to to go Enoshima Island at sunset and see Fujisan, from some little restaurant, ok a bar. Maybe when you go you could take a photo and ship it over, better yet
..see the title.. hows your Japanese ?
Ok group question..what one thing would we want to do, something special, if we were able to go back just one time ?
..and no Wally..now, not then, you rascall.

Peter-san, believe it or not, I would just like to go walk around my old neighborhood, Hakuraku, in the early evening on a warm Sunday afternoon, and take in all the sights and sounds. Then go have a bowl of shrimp fried rice, and finish off with one of those cream filled pasties.

I have been reading the posts on a regular basis but haven't posted/contributed lately -- I'm still here!!

How can I choose only one thing to do if I went back to Yokohama? I cannot pick just one! So, these are the things that came to mind: I would go back to the (2) places I lived (Negishi American Military Housing Area and a house off-base in the Kamariya area of Yokohama) and see what they look like now. Then I would try to make some contacts to try to find my old friend Ikuko Matsudaira, with whom I played flute and piano duets at Sunday church services at the chapel when it was at Bayside Courts (Hillside Chapel), and also when the chapel was moved to Negishi and re-named Chapel of the Rising Sun (I believe). I would also like to re-visit Isezaki-cho shopping street and Motomachi shopping street.

Lori-san
It is not like being there but you can see Motomachi and Isezaki-cho on you-tube.
Kaoru must think were all whacked. I know I am !

Minasama, Konnichiwa

There links are Isezakichou and Motomachis
shopping mall. Shops around Yokohama Station have popularity now.

http://www.isezaki.jp/pdf/english-map.pdf
http://map.motomachi.or.jp/html/movie/index2.html

This is from 1945s Yokohamas movie.
Please watch only at the movie though the narration is Japanese. This is a film of about 30 minutes.

http://www.city.yokohama.jp/me/keiei/kichitaisaku/shiryo/kanagawanobei...

Mina-san,
For me, just going on a walk in the old neighborhood is fun. I usually go from the bus stop (#103) just outside the Negishi base gate down through Negishi Shinrin Park (you would remember it as the golf course across from the Grandstand), along Sagiyama Dori past where our house used to be, through the tunnel to Motomachi, across to Chinatown, out the Blue Gate to the Grand Hotel, and then if its a nice day, I take the water taxi through the harbor and over to SOGO Department Store. Too much fun!!
Along the walk I always stop for a steamed meat bun in Chinatown, and a coffee at the Starbucks at the end of Motomachi.
I am very fortunate to have married a Japanese lady, and therein is why I return at least once every year if not twice.
Thank you all for you comments. They are fun to read and think about. For sure, we all have so many fond memories.
Tracy

I would want to see the Yokohama Bluff area, which is what I remember best - the Foreigner's cemetery, where my father is buried, Berrick Hall, the church down the street where I used to accompany my friend Minnete to hear mass - a belated thank you to Barbara-san and Dave for identifying it as Christ Church - also the park with the big swimming pool where I learned to swim, Chinatown, and Motomachi. I know St Joseph's College closed several years ago, but I'd like to see and talk to the St Mauer School people and see if they have pictures or records from the years I spent there.

I'd also like to see Karuizawa and see how much of it I recognize. I'd also go to Kyoto to visit my friends, Yoshi and Michiko.

Maybe we should organize a group tour and do this thing? My son Jeff was there in 09 and had a great time and little difficulty getting around.

Hope everyone is well and has gotten through this rough winter with less trouble than Peter.

Steffi, you proposed this before and its still a great idea. Again I can't wait to be with you and all the other guys, at 35 thousand feet in that cramped, stuffy,crowded plane over the vast Pacific
I just love tight places don't you ? And now with Tracy, we can mooch off of his family too. ! This is getting better and better. I think fall would be nice, bon odori. And real gyoza ! The stuff that they call Gyoza here just doesn't make it.
Still deep winter in NH, last night 6 degrees, and I wish that was centagrade, but it wasn't. I was going to hold a pitty party but no one showed up..too much ice on the walks.