Yokohama Navy Exchange was where?

"Can't believe what our grandfathers had done."

What do you think he ment by that. Were they amazed ? ashamed ? proud ? Thought it was stupid ?

That is the kind of thing I would have liked to have explored.

Oh and liked your limrick, not sure of the meter...but I'm no expert.
I do remember that mothers at the base were concerned that there kids were "addicted" to Kinkoman soy sauce, and put it on everything..sound familiar ?

Also some rare footage just came out yesterday, pretty grainy. Film was in a storage shed in Fla for years.

I remember seeing World War II Japanese veterans in their uniforms around Yokohama, but the First Sergeant ordered us never to approach them. When I was at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, I worked with Mr. Goto, who was an unsuccessful Kamikaze pilot during WWII. He and his parents were living in Canada before the war, but moved back to Japan just before the war started and he volunteered to be a Kamikaze, but there were not enough planes to go around so he never went on a mission, and ended up having a long career working for the U.S. military. I spent eight years overseas, and worked with two WWII Japanese veterans, a WWII German submariner, and two East German spies, and as far as I know, none of them tried to kill me, although a couple of them got me really drunk!

Minasama Konnchiwa,

My computer crashed.
New computer was delivered yesterday.
I finished aging of my computer.
Though it was regrettable, move of the data of broken VISTA was not completed.
Therefore, e-mail was not able to be sent to the friends.

Thank you, everyone.
Steffi-san I stayed at NYC several days.
I love NY. That is an active wonderful big city. Yes, I also like opera.
I am often hearing Pavarotti.

This song is "Stand Alone". Please listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jSbLq56a5s

Peter:

I think his meaning was, "how could Grandpa think of taking on the colossus that American became."

Thanks Eric. I was thinking that is what they might have ment. The sleeping giant eh ? Dis you see the TV series "The Pacific ? Not easy to watch and not for the faint of heart but well done.

Kaoru-san I am glad your computer is back.
Sorry for your lost data.
What does the series name mean? The translator didn't work.
I am glad you have returned.
Beautiful song.

Hi, Peter

Nice to hear again.

This is "Saka no ue no kumo"�@Yokohama is little cold Saturday morning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saka_no_ue_no_kumo_(TV_series)

She returns..
from the dead...
our little deer...
with the broken leg....
"Gimpy"!!


Well maybe not quite a Haiku..
This is about a doe that lives in our forest nearby. We thought the hunters got her 2 years ago.
Barbara, does this meter work ?
Tell me the truth..I can hack it..oh..already did...

And as a famous Vulcan often said:
"live long & prosper"

Peter, I'm a bit confused by the exact nature of a haiku. I always thought that it was supposed to be three lines or phrases of 5, 7, and 5 syllables each in that order - a total of 17 syllables altogether. But when I read haiku by Basho, Buson and Issa, I find that they aren't necessarily following that pattern.

For example: Basho:

A caterpillar, (5)
this deep in fall - (4)
still not a butterfly. (6)

Or Buson writing about a deer:

It cried three times, (4)
the deer, (2)
then silence. (3)

And finally Issa, who I like for his humor:

The snail gets up (4)
and goes to bed (4)
with very little fuss. (6)

For more about the structure of Haiku:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku

This is a long way of saying that although I'm not an expert at Haiku meter, I do love language and the way it can be used to sensitively and imaginatively express ideas - and I've long admired your natural gift for playing with language and your willingness to share that gift with the rest of us.

You and your "Gimpy" deer have a lot in common with Buson - and that's meant to be a sincere compliment from me to you.

From Max Ehrmann's "Desiderata," my holiday non-Haiku mantra:

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

Peace. joy, and good health to all during this holiday season and into the New Year.

Thank you for the complement and the refresher on Haiku
I'm not sure I understand it as well.
Maybe the rules are ment to be broken.
Maybe my "Gimpy" poem was a kinnd of fusion, like tex-mex, or Japanese clam chowder..ohhh..will have to think on thta one.
Haiku to me is like playing an instrument by ear. You can't read it but its there.

The blind man crawls in the dark..
oh..
I found it..

or perhaps

I'm dreaming of a ...
warm Christmas..

[sorry Bing]

just off the top of my head.

welcome back Joe.

Maybe when the Haiku is translated into English it loses its meter.

Just thought I'd share this with you all.
The year was 1968. I was working at the Army's printing plant in Kawasaki. The sergeant in charge was looking for someone to drive a truck to pick up the mail at a distribution center & return. I saw it as an opportunity to get out of work, which was running a printing press. Accompanying me was another G.I. who "knew the way". Mid way thru the trip, which I found challenging, due to the narrow roads and driving on the left side, we approached a tunnel and my co worker told me to proceed. There was a sign, written in Japanese & posted at the entrance, which neither of us could read. That was our mistake.
About 20 or so yards in to the tunnel the truck came to a sudden stop. That sign we couldn't read indicated, as I later found out, was the clearance.
The top of our truck was now wedged in to the ceiling of the tunnel, which was rock. Couldn't go forward, or backward. The traffic behind us was backing up.
With horns blasting I asked a few of the onlookers, who got out of their cars, to sit on the truck while I deflated all four tires in an effort to lower the truck.
Surely this would allow me to proceed forward. It did not. Still stuck. After some discussion with an onlooker he said in essence "Since you got in this far why back out the same way?"
Bingo! That did the trick. For the remainder of my stay in Japan I never drove again.

Well Joe....what can I say..
1. should have had a Japanese interpereter.
2. you could have figured that out by yourself.
3 Did you have a drivers license?
4 How did you re-inflate the tires or did you just drive on the rims.
and not least..
5 How did you explain the damage to the truck and who paid for it ?
You are fogriven..the smog in Kawasaki was brutal.
I remember standing on top of the milk plant on a clear monday morning and watching the steel mills belch out smoke so that by 10 am it was ''clowdy''
Driving on the left might not be so bad, its the turns that would mess me up.
I'm sure the goodwill was worth it you gave many Japanese a good laugh.


Oh and happy Hannukah to all of our jewish friends..
and tomorrow Happy solstice to our pagan friends...

Hi Peter
The only drivers license I had was the one I got while residing in N.Y. There were only about 20 Americans working in the plant. About 200 were nationals. They wouldn't be allowed to transport Army mail. Plus the truck was stick, so I was probably one of the few able to drive it.
I drove a short distance to a gas station and re-inflated the tires. The damage done to the truck was on the top, unseen from ground level. And, no, we didn't report it.
As you pointed out, the air in Kawasaki was thick & smelled of petroleum. Yokohama wasn't much better. Fortunately, Bayside Courts was near the water so the breezes helped somewhat.
Happy Holidays!

When I arrived in Japan I was sent to Zama for a day. I asked one of the specs' where I was going to bunk in Yokohama, they said Bayside Courts. I thought I was going to heaven. Tennis and a swim anyone ? Well Bayside Courts was ok but as you know you couldn't see the bay..[from the O club ?]
and there were no courts. It kind of looked like a converted factory. There was this little restaurant..the Main brace? I also remember that there were some steel doors to some spooky looking bunkers or whatever they were. Regardless i was delighted to be there. My parents were tickled that I was staying at..The Courts" I never really let on..I think they thought it was Palm Beach or someplace. Why didn't anyone tell me about the "special services" in the far right building ? I only found out towards the end of my stay...
Luckelly I didn't drive in Japan, The taxis were cheap and the railroads and trollys were efficient. The taxi drivers had a death wish..

You're right about the taxis. Sitting inside one of them was like playing Russian roulette. Not sure you were going to live thru it.They loved to speed!
Too bad you didn't get to sample the special services "on the right". You would, like the rest of us, become a regular. lol
After just 1 year there I made SP-5. I guess the job I had warranted it. The extra money came in handy.
What was the street Bayside Courts was on? It wasn't far from the Yokohama Tower.

Joe
You know, I really don't remember. Don't recall ever hearing a name for it. Was it Kominato ? In earlier days it was Ave A I remember the dusty walk from there to the Navy Exchange area, and the Seaside club, which I didn't go to often because it was for NCO's.
I made SP5 in my last year there. I remember that there were 3 of us called to the office which was just accross from the Dispensery. We were terriffied as we thought that we had done something wrong and were going to get punished for it.What a surprise, when we made 5. They forgot to ad it to my pay and it took 2 months to reconsile it.
I did not live atBayside as i was newly married and had an apartment about a half hour walk. Through the tunnel that went out to Honmuku-dori, then up the hill to Medori-Gaoka.

Christmas Eve 1967 I assisted the Red Cross Donut Dollies in delivering "ditty bags" to the wounded soldiers on the wards at Kishine Barracks. I also helped at the hospital at Fort Leonard Wood, Christmas Eve 1970, and in Vietnam in 1971. I tell you, there is no warmer feeling than to get together with the Donut Dollies, nurses, corpsmen and doctors to try to bring a little bit of home to lonely, wounded, and ill soldiers at Christmas time, and they seemed to really appreciate it--I hope political correctness has not changed any of it.

Chag Chanukah Sameach!, and Merry Christmas to all!

The joke among G.I.'s was that all taxi drivers were ex-Kamikaze pilots. Ever taxi I was in had plastic covers on the rear seats, and during the ride you slid from one side of the taxi to the other. I remember one late night ride on the back streets where Peter used to live--we went around a curve and there was an elderly lady in a kimono in the middle of the street. When we went by her, the bumper caught her kimono. I looked back, and she was spinning around like a top, but the taxi driver didn't slow down one bit, and didn't go back to see if she was okay. I liked taxi rides, I thought they were exciting, especially when I was drunk!

When I arrived in Yokohama as a Navy dependent (wife) in l980, the Navy Lodge was in Bayside Courts. I lived there a little more than a month until our house in Negishi Heights was ready (kitchen remodeling). Bayside Courts was on the side of the street toward Honmoku-dori (D Ave.)...in other words on the side of the street away from the bay. Hope that helps.

Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year to everyone!