Yokohama Navy Exchange was where?

Thinking of you. Keep your boots handy, and ready the pumps! How ya doin? contact when you can.

Hey, Peter;
The Lake of the Ozarks looks a lot like the river in Bangkok, Thailand when we were there briefly in the 50s. We received 5 inches of rain and not too far south of us, in S. Missouri and Arkansas, they got a foot of rain. Roads are washed out and it will be a while before things dry out.
Lori; Check out a company called Water Furnace for information on ground source heat pumps. We have their system and it also heats the floor in the main level.

Sounds like your ok.5 inches is a lot but not like 12 inches. we had 12 inches a couple of years ago and it got pretty bad. Had three small pumps working constantly and we are on very high ground. Today is the wind. Mt washington is far from here but winds there are reported to be 110 mph. eric besides Yokohama you did get around . I had thought i would love to see Thailand but never made it. Thanks Lori for the lead, Have checked out those sites already and will continue to explore it. tried on my old geta. How did I ever get used to these? Not like swimming, didn't come back to me. Unlike chopsticks, have never lost that touch. Stay dry.

Eric and Peter and everyone else who remember Honmoku, Yokohama:
I've posted my article "Memories of Old Honmoku: An Expatriate Revisits His Yokohama Childhood Haunts" on my website. It originally appeared in The Japan Times. I welcome your comments. You can google my name then go to the bottom of the list of stories there.
Kunio Francis Tanabe

Kunio-san
I read, with longing, your article, and it invoked many thoughtful memories. Some "anger" at what people have to do to survive in time of war, living in caves and seeing cities burnt to the ground. Goverments moving age old temples for housing and fishermen losing there traditional way of life. I will share with you this. In 1968 I lived with my wife in Honmuku and thought it ironic that " Bayside Courts" was not near the bay as far as I could tell. One Saturday we longed for the sea, so decided to travel around the bay to the Chiba Pennesulia to see Yokohama from the " Beaches" on the other side. After a few hours of going through Tokyo we arrived at where we figured there would be water and a little beach. Alas, chain link fences separated us from the water and inbetween were docks and concrete peirs. It was a sad lesson, but later we found Shimoda , Sado amd other incredably beautiful spots. I always thought Yokohama ment "Side Beach" you say horizontal beach. Interesting. Thank You for your insightful article. I will read it again soon when I can reflect on it. I remember the families that lived on the barges next to our first apartment right on the canal on the edge of Chinatown and have wondered what ever became of them when the overpass went in leading to the new bridge. I have believed that Honmuku-dori was spoken of as Hunky-Dori by American servisemen as in everything is just fine. Is this corrrect ? Sometimes its hard to know what is the right interperation. Thank you again.

I suspected there was a connection, Francis, when I read your first entry as Honmokujin. Who else would have known about that great, mysterious secret, the Ten Yen Store. Where did all those comic books come from, anyway?
A friend in Yokohama sent me an email link recently that shows the old neighborhood as it is today. It is http://www.city.yokohama.jp/me/naka/contents/english/wardmap....
I can see Sannotani and the Sankeien Gardens where I spent so many hours.
The Negishi Refinery stands just below the Gardens, separated by a pond. This pond is all that's left of the bay once filled with fish and crab to delight a young fisherman no matter his language or custom.
I asked our mapping department to print the map on heavy paper stock and have it up in my office today.
Regards,

Hey Eric, Tried to see the map that you posted, it opened up to a huge site all in Kanji. Perhaps you could get me closer to the one you went to. Trust you read Honmokujins article, perhaps I am to visual but it all came to me through his story. Hope you are dried out after the heavy rains, and have had enough flood therapy.

Peter, It might be this map.

http://www.city.yokohama.jp/me/naka/contents/english/map/war...

Got it! Wonderful map ! Gee I wish I had a " Map Department" too. Thanks Eric
Now watch for them tornados.

Everyone should have a map department and, best of all, a map lady...

Speaking of maps and such, I have googled earth Yokohama and its OK, but I have found virtual earth on Earth live maps or something like that and the images of my house is amazing. But, when I try and do this in Yokohama to see my old apartment.. nothing. The only thing I can figure is that they haven't done that yet in Yokohama which is surprising.
as they are very up on all of this. Any ideas? Thanks.. found my old neighborhood on your map, learned that the street address relates to an about 3 block area, thought the address was specific to only one building. Perhaps the nice map lady could help, or some fine Japanese computer man has the answer

Peter:

It probably has something to do with the house numbering system in Japan. Our house at 91 Sannotani was next door to 108 Sannotani. No even/odd numbering; just a number based on when the house was built, I guess.
Maybe when the neighborhood was rebuilt, they used a more logical system.

Eris san yes that is my understanding, that houses were numbered according to when they were built. What I was referring to is that it appears from the map that the AREA ie: several blocks had the same number. From then i guess that the name of the family would furthur define who lived there. Also to clarify my previous question. A computer program called VIRTUAL EARTH has almost close up photos of houses in my area, much better than Google earth. With this I can see images as if they were seen from an aircraft at 500 feet. When I tried this on yokohama
it didn't work. Had just the "standard" google earth image. Given that the Japanese are so advanced in this I am surprised that a city like yokohama cannot be seen by Virtual Earth. Any thoughts?

Eric, I found this on You Tube, this is absolutely up your alley. Go to the address above. If you don't love this , I will buy you a beer.

Any beer, as long as it isn't Hamms.

Hey everyone! Are you all hibernating? Or out doing Spring cleanup in the yard? We've started ours, despite the unseasonably cold weather here in western Washington state. It has been snowing overnight and this morning, but not sticking. People are afraid to put out any plants or plant any of their vegetable garden for fear of losing it to frost. Hopefully this isn't the indication of an abnormally hot summer. (We Northwesterners prefer our MILD climate.) Would like to hear from those who've been posting to this forum.........hope everything is ok with everyone!

Hi Lori Still here. Winter has now passed. Record snows yuk. Much clean up and repair. Nice to here from you . Erick and I have been carying on. Guess I owe him a beer.. an expensive one .. have not seen Wally or Kaoru for a long time now. I miss them. Hope all is well with you. New England is waking up from a long winter and the push is on to get the gardens and lawns in shape. The last snowpile went away yesterday. at its height it was 14 feet high.

I just stumbled onto this site when doing a Google search of St. Joseph's College which my two brothers and I attended from October 1954 until January 1957. I was in 6th grade when we left, my younger brother, John, was in 5th grade, and my older brother, Boots (or Henry), was in 10th grade. My father was a US Army officer working in the Japan Procurement Agency and we lived on the Bluff within walking distance of SJC and the Catholic cathedral. We previously lived for a less than a year "on the economy" (a small Japanese house that we rented) across from the YC&AC in the Ridge area. Used to ride the Army buses (before Navy) to and from the PX complex near Izasaki Cho (I think) which was a shopping center with PX, commissary, snack bar, the Bill Chickering movie theater, a bowling alley and various franchise shops. Watched many baseball games at the Yo Hi field near there (including a game between the soldiers' team and the Ohio State University team that included the1955(?) Heismann Trophy winner, Howard (Hopalong) Cassidy and a big first baseman, Frank Howard, who went on to play for the Dodgers.

Went back to Yokohama in 1970 on R&R from Vietnam and then again with my wife in September 2005. On that last trip I hoped to find landmarks from my youth but, alas, all that remained of SJC was a brass plaque nest to a huge condo development where we used to play soccer and baseball on a big dirt lot. I couldn't find either our Bluff house or our house near the YC&AC. The only reminders of that time long ago were the New Grand Hotel and the Catholic cathedral.

I'm dying to hear from others like you who have memories of Yokohama, especially those of the mid-50's period.

Thanks

Bob La Raia

Hey, Bob!

My dad worked for the US Army's Japan Procurement Agency. Its very likely that our fathers knew and worked with each other in that period.

My dad had been a Hump pilot in the CBI. He rejoined the Army as a DAC in '49 or '50, worked at Camp Zama, then took the Procurement Agency position in about '55.

Small world, eh?

Great to hear from you, Eric. I didn't know my Dad's colleagues at JPA except to remember the name "Major Yoder." The Yoders were neighbors when we lived on the economy across from the YC&AC and they had several kids. My dad was a lieutenant colonel and, alas, died almost four years ago, so I can't ask him or my mother, who died eight years ago, about the Japan days. My Mom was very active in social affairs like the Officers Wives Club for JPA. Both Mom and Dad did a lot of work helping a group of nuns establish an orphanage for children fathered by American service men and Japanese mothers.

Anything you can tell me about your days in Yokohama would be truly welcomed.

Bob