Yokohama Navy Exchange was where?

Chris is still attempting to find out whether Mrs. Matsudaira is still attending and/or playing piano for church services at the chapel in Negishi. He promised to find out for me and I haven't e-mailed an enquiry to the chaplain myself because since Chris offered to do it and is in the process, I don't want him to feel bad by me stepping in on his efforts to fulfill a promise. When he does find out, I will post it here.

I hope you understand, Peter. I appreciated your suggestion about e-mailing to them myself, but I just explained why I haven't.

Ah so desu ka..
Or how the old song goes.
Hope you had a good christmas and new years. I think I remember that you were planning to return to Japan sometime, have I got that right? I have been in touch with my X wife who has graciously loaned me our old photographs which I have been treasuring. Crunch time now, they will be returned back at the end of the month so I need to figure out how to get the time to scan them and get them up on the net. It might happen but I am not that optimistic. I told her about this forum and hopefully she will find it and share her own memories of our time there. She tells me that now that she is retired as a teacher she has been looking into a program that "employs" teachers to come to Japan for a couple of months to teach english. This would be a fantastic oppertunity and I hope she does it. I would love the same offer but while I speak english I am not sure that I could teach it. Too many exceptions to to many rules.
Perhaps a conversational forum.

Thanks for the update. Fully understand your reasoning. Seems like we were posting at the exact same moment. At least you have a way to reach her. I have two old friends that I would like to find but the leads are very poor. One was in a rock group called the Voltage and his name was Chibita, the other was a man Hidumichi Shibanguchi, not even sure of the spelling. Spoke english with a cute Austrailian accent and lived near the Satimia area [DAVE who posts all over the forum might help if he sees this] anyway thanks for the update. I have had no takers on my offer for free snow so I am going to keep it.. so there. Patches of green lawn OMG its like spring. Hope to see my little deer herd that visits my back "40" one has a broken leg for 2 years now and gets around suprisingly well, we call him gimpy.

A happy new year!

I'm sorry that the greeting at the new year from me is late. I had a new business. And, it was a little busy from the new year.

I thank for your having a good Japanese memory heartily.

My family stayed at the hotel in Hakone for two days from Thursday. The temperature of Yokohama was warm days. The highest temperature here was 53f. However, it is a cold rain today. Peter san, I retrieved Chibita or Sibaguchi. Is he rock Singer?To our regret, I do not know the name. I went to the Yamate street early morning of the New Year's Day. A lot of young people had come there. Times Square celebrates a new year with fireworks. The passenger boat of the Yokohama port sounded a whistle and it was celebrated.

Hey Keoru san
Nice to hear from you! I am glad that you had a vacation over new years. My mother and Father stayed in Hakone when they visited me. I think they stayed at the Fujia Hotel very beautiful. The man Chibita was in the rock group The Voltage, They did one record album that I found a picture of on a site of Japanese group sounds. I wonder if there is a Japanese web site that asks what ever happened to ..The Voltage.. or "where are they now? Mr Shibanguchi was not a musician. He worked at the Navy Exchange as a travel agent who makes plans for travel. He lived in Satiyama north west of Tokyo about 30 miles. His father had a company that did landscaping trees.. Perhaps they are in the phone book ? Weather here is much better and thank you for using F degree Thats nice of you I am not sure why we have not adopted the international centergrade scale. I cant even think in certergrade, pretty stupid, not to mention feet and inches and miles and miles per hour. How do we get anything done?
I remember the first time i rode in a Japanese car on the left side of the road. It seems strange. Same for you when you came to America ne? Also I would like to find out about weather on Mt Fuji How much snow? How cold ? how warm ? Wind velocity? All through the year? there must be some site? I know there is a weather station there. Has anyone lived on top of Mt Fuji for one year? Many questions sorry. Answer what you can. Take care..

Hi, Peter san

I say it to overseas Penpal by Fahrenheit though the temperature of Japan is a centigrade. I was not able to find Chibita or The Voltage. I will give it a butcher's a little more in detail. If the name of the Chinese character of Shibaguchi san is understood, it might be possible to find his telephone number. However, the telephone number is not often made public for the protection of
personal information.
Your parents stayed in Fujiya. It is wonderful. Fujiya is a hotel of the most famous first class in Hakone. Your parents surely think that they satisfied it. Yes, I traveled in France. I drove a rent-a-car then. I had embarrassment first so that a car ran on the right side.
Please try this link about Mt.Fuji. The details are written here.

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

I will answer your question little by little.

Kaoru

Kaoru san
I remember the hotel but did not stay there. My father was looking for a book written there called Japan topys-turveydom which means in english things that are bottom-up and up/down. He did not find it but did later. it was printed in the traditional Japanese way with the pages that were folded together. They loved the Fujia hotel but I do not remember if their room had a view of Fujisan. Thanks for the reference, My question in simple way. Whatwas the coldest temperature ever on fujisan and the most wind record. Here in New Hampshire there is a mountain [ Mt. Washington] that is said to have the highest wind speed at 231 MPH. I think this is now over as a typhoon in the pacific had more speed. Today is beautiful, but the weatherman says are getting a "northeast storm" which is the bad kind, tomorrow, another 6 to 12 inches of snow, UGH.. I thought this was too good to last.

Kaoru san
I am full of questions today, please indulge me.
I have a small collection of woodblock prints, many were my fathers including some manga by hokusai. also I have one that is the great wave of Kanagawa. I do not think this is an original but a later print. I might be wrong, even as I am an antique dealer it is hard to say. my Question is, are there any original Hokusai prints of the "Great Wave" available for sale? i have looked on many art dealer web sites and have not found any. I realize that this is the most famous of all the Japanese prints and might be very expensive. I am not looking to purchase one but I am interested in if any are available and at what cost. I have several others that I am pretty sure are original and I treasure them very much.

Peter san

The print of Hokusai Katsusika is very famous and expensive. After the Pacific War had ended, many of famous works of art of Japan were sold to foreign countries. Your father might have bought it. To our regret, the print is not detailed to me. Because I was doing Kenndou, am a little knowledge about the Japanese sword. This link is a special shop of Ukiyoe. These Ukiyoe is $25,000 to $29,000. Great Wave is a series of Fugaku Hyakkei. The original of the series is very expensive.

http://www.odagiri-tsushin.net/ukiyoe/hokusai.html

Yours

Kaoru san

thank you, this price is about what I had expected actually somewhat less. I had thought that the Great Wave would go for about $ 100.000. When my father was in Japan he purchased some things including Ukiyoe. He did some shopping at a store in Tokyo called Yamanakas. he was interested in a Katana but told them he would like to think about it and that he was going to Kyoto. Several days later, he was in Kyoto and went to the Yamanaka store there. They were ready for him and remembered his name. They asked him if he had thought about the katana and they had sent it from Tokyo to Kyoto just for him to look at it again. We call that exceptional customer service.
I do not remember much about the sword but it was famous with a special name and a lot of paperwork[ in Japanese] he thought a lot about it and we talked at length about this purchase. As i remember it was almost $ 10.000 maybe a little less. It was hard for him to know if this was a fair price and if the history was as correct as they were telling him. i think he should have bought it but did not. I know he had much respect for the Yamanaka store. Later i purchased a Biwa from them. It looked very nice but I could not get any song from it. I wish I had studied the Koto, I played one once and I felt that that i had a "feel" for it. Even now, I put on some Koto music I love the sound.

Went to the web sight. Did I see some go-ju-hachi ? Men like goju hachi ne? Wife san probably does not like go ju hachi. Hey! its art ne ?

Peter san

Sorry.

The married couple's picture is pornography of about the 17th century. The ukiyoe master in the Edo age wrote such a print besides scenery. Because I am a Christian, I do not like such pictures. Please you not worry about it. The artistry value is low. Your Great Wave might be original. Fugaku Hyakkei of Hokusai is being bought and sold with $100,000 in Japan.

Yours,

Kaoru

Kaoru
do not be troubled, I am not offended by go ju hachi. While i do not have any, and while I would not purchace any I find many old japanese things of intrest. When i was living in japan i made a thought to myself. I realized that there were going to be many things about Japan that I might not understand or maybe not approve of. I decided to be open to all things regardless of my personal feelings or opinions and not to judge customs based upon my personal beliefs. In this way while there might be things that i might find different, that I would learn more about another culture and be less "judgemental" . In "setting aside" any "preconceived notions" ,I was able to more fully capture the depth and texture of Japan and her people. In this way I believe that i gained a more complete experience than a person who shuts out things that they find different. Once I tried to talk to a man with "honey Buckets" as we called them. I wanted to know about him. He did not want to talk and was busy, so I "let it go". I hope that I was not "pushy" in my quest to satisfy my hunger about Japan. but i was a good observer, and open to most everything. As a result, I had a most fantastic experience. Yes, occasionally I got a look from people but I learned a lot. Sometimes I think I could have used another 20 years there but it was not so.

Peter san, I wish to express my gratitude for your generous mind. Such a picture seemed to have been drawn in the island nation as for Japan in the Edo age when the amusement was few.

Three Japanese swords were transferred for me because of my father's parents' family. It was a wonderful sword without rust at all. I had been doing Kendou since the time of the elementary school. The Japanese sword forges the iron sand and is made. The soft iron is encompassed surroundings of the blade. It is made from two different iron. As a result, the sword is a structure that doesn't break strongly. The blade can shave the beard very sharply.

When I was a university student, am drank a little. And, paper was cut with the sword by way of experiment in my private room. And, I drank foolishly a little more again.

My father thought that he was very dangerous to see it. Thus he has returned the parents' house those three swords. Several years later, I said that I wanted you to hand them over to my cousin again. However, he said that he would have sold those swords. I regretted very much. The sword was an old sword that had been made in the 11th century. The sword was a color of the gray a little. To use it for the actual combat, more iron sands have been contained. Whether my father's ancestor was Samurai or a farmer is not understood. I still want the sword. It was a sword that did not cut the person. Haha am a foolish guy.

Take care

Kaoru san
I was very interested in your family history of the swords.I cannot imagine a sword in the family being a thousand years old. A true treasure. I was not clear as to if the swords were sold or not. I hope that the swords were not sold but you should have them in your family for yourself and your son. I have seen many you tube programs on how Japanese swords are made. the process is truly magical
especially the tempering of the steel "as the red glow is like the rising sun in the morning" A thousand years. A thousand years ago my ancestors were using stone clubs to chop trees in england. And were barbarians.

Ohayou Gozaimasu

Yes, the sword was longer than that of about the 17th century. And, it had a bigger warp. My grandpa seems to have valued it. My father's parents' family is the country provinces in north Kantou. Near Saitama there. There were two warehouses in the parents' family in old times, and one warehouse stored rice and the miso. Another warehouse seemed to have had the sword and the spear. Those warehouses have already been dismantled.

My father invited the family of US naval forces to father's parents' family. They seem to have been satisfied with the country in Japan very much. They stayed there for several days. My parents' family was built last December.

Regards,

Is the sword still in your family or was it sold ? I would love for you if the family still has it somewhere.

I have watched several Keno matches. I do not understand how the judges rule on the winner because it happens FAST. My eye cannot see the action of the "blade" as it is too quick. It is over in a time that I cannot measure.
Some of my friends studied Akido but I did not.

Peter;
You've scratched another issue that has lingered long amongst the Japanese, well after the occupation. Along with taking some of the best land for our use in a crowded country, the military administration ordered almost all the shotguns, rifles and pistols, plus all other "weapons of war" rounded up for confiscation. This usually meant samurai swords. Thousands of these family heirloons were taken and either carried off the the US by servicemen or simply destroyed. Many old swords had small tiger, dragon or some other representation in gold or ivory. My dad mentioned how he once came upon an army sergeant sitting on a pier in Yokohama, guarded by a couple of MPs, picking the gold inlays off the swords and putting these in a small sack. The swords were tossed in the bay.
Not all Japanese followed this order and so thousands of swords survived. Most of these were taken away to rural areas where few Americans were likely to observe them.
Historic objects of art were usualy paid for but given how poor the average Japanese family was in the post war years, buyers with cash typically controlled the exchange.
There had been a movement to repatriate some of the art and swords back to Japan. I don't know how successful this has been.

Peter san

My cousin said that it had sold the sword. However, I think that he still has them. The rule of Kendou is comparatively simple. When Shinai becomes hit to the head, body, and hand, the score can be obtained. Please refer to this link.

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