Yokohama Navy Exchange was where?

Barbara-san - You asked, "Does anyone remember the Dragon Club in Yokohama? I wonder if the building is still there."
I was going to answer this by showing you the Golden Dragon Officer's Open Mess on the old map from the YOHI web site but it appears that web site has been taken down and replaced by a newer web site, http://yohidevils.com/, that no longer has the maps. It does have a few neat pictures of Area 1&2 being built in 1946 and being vacated during the late 70s along with some other stuff.
The Golden Dragon was between Lou Gehrig Stadium and the old downtown chapel center on what the Army called 2nd Street, http://mappery.com/map-of/City-Map-of-Yokohama-Japan. Nippon-Odori http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/japan_city_plans/txu-oclc-6549645-1....
The building is long gone, replaced by a park next to Yokohama Stadium that you can see on Google maps. I remember the Golden Dragon well. My mother was convinced we would all die if we ever ate anything that didn't come from the commissary or the club so we ate there often.

Tonights August Moon....
Shines on a sea..
That is...
Unlimited....

Dave-san, thank you for the links to the many photos on the new Yo-Hi Devils website and to the maps. The contrast between the newly built homes in Areas 1&2 in 1946 (!) and their later neglected, boarded up demise is sad to see. But I'm glad for the pictures because they and our memories are all that is left. I'm sure I wouldn't recognize that area now. Where once there were homes with green lawns, walking distance to the beach, some homes with views of the water, now there are probably modern high-rise buildings, commercial areas, and industrial areas built on acres of landfill.

Thank you also for your clear instructions for finding the location of the former Dragon Club. I have bookmarked your maps and commend you for finding and sharing the 1949 map. You have excellent research skills. I had forgotten that the Dragon Club was near the Chapel Center; both were places our family visited many times. And, yes, I also recall the cautionary attitude about eating; there must have been warnings about that in some kind of handbook for military dependents in Japan.

Good to hear from you, Dave-san!

As always, Peter,
Your haiku enliven this forum.
Keep them coming . . . .

Wouldn't it be fun if we could all communicate with each other in haiku? I'm not a tweeter, but could that be what Twitter is all about?

Interesting article in Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/japan-inc-tests-a-sur...

The little bird..
speaks softly to Barbara....
Twweeet !!!!

I want to give an "Atta Girl" to U.S. Olympian gymnast, Aly Raisman, not only for winning a gold metal, but also for honoring in her floor routine the Israeli athletes who were murdered by terrorists in the 1972 Munich Olympics. Atta Girl Aly, you courageous little cutie pie!

In my previous post I said "gold metal", which should be "gold medal." Sorry, I've been hanging out with Peter-san too much.

Thanks, Peter. Now if only I could understand and speak bird :).

Steffi, I miss your posts ~ it's been a long time since your last one.

We're looking for WAVES who were stationed in Yokohama from 1972 to 1977. Specifically we're looking for those stationed at TNPO as postal clerks. I'm sorry to read that Bayside Courts is no longer around. From 1973 to 1975, we were quartered on the third floor of the building across the parking lot from the hotel office.
Thanks!

Hi Barbara and everyone - I haven't posted but am keeping track of all of you, and enjoying what I read. Glad to hear everyone sounding chipper. Have no poetry-talent in me, haiku or otherwise. Have been really busy in our rural summer home in the Berkshires. Hope everyone's well.

As I may have mentioned, I have reconnected with some childhood friends, and with other people who lived in Japan when I was there, which is earlier than most of you. This has been enormously rewarding, just as my "meeting" all of you has been.

Two things - I will have a hip replacement on Sept 11, which is also my husband's birthday, by coincidence. This little issue has been a literal pain, but hopefully all will be well and I will once again be able to get around really easily - and maybe even go to Japan someday soon - anyone else thinking along those lines? Maybe we can do a group trip?

Second, my friend Julie, who was my classmate in 2nd grade at St Joseph's College, on the Bluff, sent me the following about a man called Tom Haar - he was in Karuizawa when I was there - however, we did not know each other then.

Hope you enjoy the article - best to all -

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20120807a1.html

Hi, Steffi ~ Great to hear from you! I really enjoyed reading about Tom Haar. Don't fret about not writing poetry. Your posts to the forum are wonderful and reading Haar's story made me think that you, too, could write an interesting memoir about your and your parents' experiences in Japan. You were there at such an interesting historical time, before the wave of post-World War II American's arrived and left their long-lasting footprint. Maybe, you could write while you are recovering from your anticipated surgery, though your doctors may have you on your feet and walking before you have time to sharpen your pencil.

Haar's story about his father bartering his camera for a sack of potatoes made me think of my parents' experience of bartering in early-fifties Yokohama. They acquired a lovely sterling silver tea and coffee set with sugar, creamer, and a large tray for some bags of old clothing and a few cartons of cigarettes. My daughter inherited the set and treasures it as well as the story.

I was also interested to read about Haar's dream of establishing several museums in Karuizawa, one in Paul Jacoulet's former home. I inherited some framed Jacoulet woodblock prints that my parents purchased in Yokohama, and now, if I can find it on a map, I want to visit Karuizawa! Let me know if you decide to make that trip.

How nice that you've been able to connect with some of your school friends and how fortunate you are to be enjoying the rural beauty of the Berkshires. I travel to Amherst and Williams Colleges occasionally and always love being there. My mother had hip-replacement surgery, and it improved her life dramatically. Here's to your successful surgery, a quick recovery, and a happily ever after. Keep us posted.

Steffi:

The Haars must have known the Langs in 1950s Kamakura. Hungarian/American Robert lang and his wife were friends of our family back then. They lived about 5 minutes walk from the great Buddha statue.

Lang produced educational films and film strips for McGraw-Hill. He had spent the war in a Japanese POW camp where he repaired shoes for fellow inmates and the Japanese guards.

As a youngster in the mid 1950s, I traveled with Mr. Lang on a couple of his picture taking trips. This was back when Japan produced silk material. I had some silk worms in a little box at home in Yokohama and unraveled the silk from their cocoons.

Several of my friends and relatives have had hip replacement surgery, and are all doing very well. My cousin, Donna, had her left hip replaced this spring. She is an antique-er, and came to visit me last month, and wore me out going to antique malls. I hope you get around as good as Donna after your surgery, but if you come visit me, I'm not taking you to any antique malls! Sorry!

For those who might be interested, here is a link to a story about a young Marine that I found interesting: he embodies William Faulkner's words:

"The past is never dead. It's not even past."

And the past, for this Marine, resonates into the future:

http://www.dvidshub.net/news/93307/he-fights-liberation-saipan#.UC8rxa...

Interesting article. Let me tell you about someone who was at Saipan. When I was at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, 1878-80, I worked with both American and Japanese WWII veterans. The two Nisei I worked with fought in Italy, and of the two Japanese veterans, one was a Kamikaze pilot, and the other was in the Japanese navy at Saipan when American forces invaded. That man was Mr. Hamakawa, who had an absolutely great sense of humor. He told me that when they heard that the Americans were coming, the captain called them all together and passed out arms, they had very few weapons. The captain handed Mr. Hamakawa a small caliber revolver, and Mr. Hamakawa asked what he was supposed to do with such a pitiful weapon. The captain said that Americans are so big, that if you just point it in their direction you are sure to hit one of them! He said that things got so bad that everyone was going to the suicide cliffs and jumping. He said he went to look, but decided he would wait until the next day, but he was wounded and captured that night. After his wounds healed (actually he lost one leg, and was surprised at how well he was treated in American hospitals), the Americans discovered that Mr. Hamakawa could speak and write English, and they hired him as a clerk and he has had a life-long career with the U.S. military. The two Nisei, Ken Yoshinaga (my boss), and Bob Ito (one of my best friends), were in that Nisei unit in Italy that I think earned more medals for valor than any other unit. Mr. Goto was the Kamikaze pilot. Just think, in 1978-80 we were all great friends, and worked and joked with each other, went out for meals and drinks, and just a few years earlier we would have been trying to kill each other. It blows your mind!

Wally, I loved your post. Strange events indeed. All of this is due to the reverence the Japanese have for the emperor, and their duty to follow his decrees. Could you otherwise imaging an insurgency ?

I honor the marine in the story, yet the allied forces landed in Saipan to aquire a forward air base, "liberating" the island for the benefit of the local population was secondary.

The leaves are changing in NH and some are falling. I think I know whats coming...nah

Wally, the story about Mr. Hamakara and your experience in Okinawa is equally as interesting as the story about the Marine from Saipan. I'm glad you posted it because you've told the so called ''rest of the story'' or at least another angle of it. Life is indeed a mysterious boat.

Saipan is about 12 miles long and 5 miles wide. My family lived on the island for two years (1946-48) just after WWII when there were still Japanese soldiers living in the caves. I believe that the last soldier came out of the caves in the mid-fifties ~ I read the story in of all places, the Penn State Daily Collegian newspaper. The Navy elementary school that I attended was located on the beach just across the road from the village of Chalan Kanoa, where the young marine was born and raised. Thus, he and his story aroused my interest.

Peter, you are right about the Americans ''liberating'' the Northern Mariana Islands. One important goal was to build American airfields closer to mainland Japan. The B29s that bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki took off from Tinian, the tiny island just a few miles south of Saipan.

The leaves and the afternoon light are also changing in Northern California. It's still August, but school started this week in our community. Soon it will be time for an autumn haiku from Peter, but not quite yet while some of us are still enjoying summer.

One of the more rewarding experiences I had in 1962 in Japan was meeting a Kamikaze pilot. It was his ultimate good fortune that airplanes could not be manufactured fast enough for him to take his final flight before the war ended. I asked him whether, as I had heard, all such pilots were volunteers. I must say he looked at me as though I were crazy, and gently disabused me of this notion.

Now, when we see a largely united Europe whose de facto leader is Germany; when we see the fascination of North American young people with Japanese popular culture; when we read about the gracious hospitality of Vietnamese people welcoming visiting veterans of the war there: it seems that, if only we could always look twenty-five years into the future as we contemplate embarking on any international hostilities, we would see how pointless it would turn out to be, and we would seek other solutions. Generation after generation learns this lesson. I don't know why it doesn't stay with us, impress us enough to keep us from engaging in these endless cycles of death and destruction.

The bubble of Autumn...

floats on the warm air...

who am I....

with this pin....?