Yokohama Navy Exchange was where?

Hello friends,

Where was the "Area X" in Honnmoku and Negishi ?
My dad, Mitsuo often said about this place when I was kid.
He was passed away already.

Best,

I think Area X was in Negishi Heights and may have included Navy families.

Arigatou / Thank you very much, Eric-san.

You are familiar with Yokohama city and about Japan in the 1950s, 60s, now well. I heard MO is also hot, please be careful heat stroke.

How did the US Army build the hundreds of houses in Area 1, Area 2, the Bluff, etc in such a short time in the late 1940s ?

Were they pre-fab in the US ?

Hello again Eric-san,

I searched Sannotani for the house where Eric and his family once lived. GHQ had ordered Japanese residents in the Honnmoku and Negishi areas to move immediately. And I think the houses designed by the US Army and built by Japanese carpenters. This is a picture of the barracks, probably soon after they were stationed.

https://www.kanaloco.jp/sites/default/files/styles/gallery_590_394/pub...

The 8th Army of the US Army landed from the Great Pier in Yokohama. About 400,000 occupying forces stationed in Japan, atound 100,000 were stationed in Yokohama city.

https://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/city-info/seisaku/torikumi/kichi/sessh...

The Yokohama Customs was the allied temporary command. And later it became the headquarters of the 8th Army.

https://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/city-info/seisaku/torikumi/kichi/sessh...

More one pic of the 8th Army Command Headquarters, Yokohama Customs.

https://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/city-info/yokohamashi/gaiyo/shishiryo/...

Occupation of Japan:
http://www.first-team.us/tableaux/chapt_03/

Lots of heavy reading...

Very interesting.
Continued best wishes to Kaoru san. Erick, Wally and everyone.

Hey Peter san, thank you very much for your reply !!
Where are you now? NH?

Stay safe,
Kaoru

Hi Kaoru san
Yes. I am still in New Hampshire. Where the days are hot, but the nights are cool. We are careful.

Hello Peter san,

Nice to hear again, are you okay? And Janet-san, Molly-chan.
I guess summer of Kingstone is wonderfll.
The number of new coronavirus patients is increasing in Japan.
Don't forget my E-mail address.

Cheers,

Hi kaorusan
Do not have computer working. Otherwise, we are not very well, but thanks for asking.

Hello friends and everyone,

Japan is 16th Tuesday morning. The maximum temperature here today will be 35 degrees. The rainy season ended early in Japan this year, so it's been a hot and long summer. Heavy rain fell in northern areas, but the big typhoon has not come yet in the metropolitan. And I think most summer vacations in Japan will end this week.

Good friends of the states, are you and family okay? I hope it. I have cervical spondylitis and my left arm is a little numb, but no problems. I'm waiting for the cool, beautiful autumn leaves.

Thank you,

When I was in elementary school, I wrote an essay in Japanese titled "Goodbye to blue eyed gentle families." I got all A's on it. At that time 1970s, the VN War had just ended and many of the US troops stationed in Japan were returning home.

There were Navy officer's families living outside Areas One and Two. My St. Joseph College classmates and I used to hang out at Hachioji Beach at the end of the cliffs and valleys that included Sankeien and Hasseiden. One family I was friendly with were the Lewis's from Collierville, Tennessee, not far from Memphis. Betty Sue, Barbara and Joy. We used to tune in to FEN when Elvis was all the rage. We went swimming there. Also spearfishing. There were huge boulders below the cliffs in the water. Eels and greenlings (ainame) were what we were after. They hid under the rocks. You could go fishing from a dock below Hasseiden. Our bait was crayfish that was abundant in a stream just outside Sankeien gardens. They were easy to catch. Speaking of catching: we played softball there in Hachioji; also caught cicadas and dragonflies, all kinds of beetles. Always looked forward to the summer holidays. Clam digging was another activity. Such a variety of clams back in those days. Sigh. Memories of a happy boyhood.
How to catch those critters: bend a wire to form a circle and attach it to a bamboo pole. Then look for spider webs to fill the circle. Easy to catch cicadas and dragonflies with that. You could use a net instead, of course. When a bat flew into our house, I made a net with a pillowcase. Caught the bat that really impressed our kids.

This garden was a 15 minute walk from or house in Sannotani. I liked to pass through the garden and make my way down to the lake shore (now filled by an auto assembly plant and oil refinery.)
An old man rented fishing boats for 100 yen and I was able to harvest crab with a bamboo pole and share these with a half dozen Japanese kids who were wading in the incoming tide.

We built a fire and enjoyed our snacks. The Japanese kids spoke no English and my Nihon was limited but we both knew what we liked...

While logged into Med Command at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, I found the obituary of Frank Hiroshi Nakano. I worked in the Chief Nurse's Office, and Frank Nakano was a young doctor and Captain at the 106th Army General Hospital, Yokohama, Japan, 1967-69. He was a real nice guy, and fun to be around. He passed away in 2020 in Culver City, CA, at age 84.

Eric san,
I remember 1960s Sankeien pond boats being available for rent. There is now only one old wooden boat in the center of the pond, no rental boats. I don't know when it went away.

Wally san,
Losing a comrade is very sad.
I wish good health and longevity to all the friends I met in this thread who lived in Yokohama once.

Eric,

Did you go to the Shootout? I watched a lot of it on TV, but the channel kept freezing up for long periods. Looked like it would be a lot of fun to be there. The Top Gun was 207 mph, but I really don't see how you could catch a fish at that speed.

Wally