Yokohama Navy Exchange was where?

Ohio !

I attended Nasugbu Beach Elementary 55-56-57 in the YOHI building, then attended Yokohama International School for a couple of years, then returned to YOHI in 60-61, which by then had been renamed Nile C. Kinnick by the Navy. I didn't know until I read a war history that Nasugbu was actualy a name from the Philippines, not Japan.
I recall that YIS played St. Joseph in an annual soccer game which St. Joseph always won. The St. Joseph kids were bigger and meaner than our kids and when they weren't kicking the ball down the field, they were kicking the little English kids who insisted they be allowed in the game. Two of these boys were nephews of the actor David Niven and they looked and sounded like little David Nivens. Daphne and Elaine were fraternal twins from England who arrived at YIS every day in a limousine. The girls liked to take two or three of us boys on a date to the local theater. They were real sweethearts.
If you left Japan in '57, you missed the construction of Tokyo Tower which was a very big event. My Scout troop went up to the restaurant near the top of the tower and took pictures of the city from this bird's eye view.
We left in 1961 and the first parts of an elevated tram were being built as part of the '64 Olympics.
My dad enjoyed working at JPA. He was a GS-11 for most of this time, then was promoted to GS-12 for his last two years. JPA was the Army & AF's purchasing arm in the Far East and had one other responsibility. Although it was a part of the US Army, money from the State Department was funneled through JPA to identify and rehabilitate Japanese and SK industries that were trying to get back on their feet after the war. One of these companies was Isuzu. JPA delivered a "new" 1949 2 1/2 ton Dodge truck to Isuzu and suggested that if Isuzu could make them, the Army would buy them. Isuzu copied the Dodge duce & a half, right down to the tool kit and produced exact copies into the 1960s. Japanese Dodges are still in service in the PI and, no doubt, in Vietnam.
Regards,

Located adjacent to the main boulevard in Yokohama and served by contract buses, taxis and street cars, the NHAY Exchange consisted of a NEX, Bill Chickering Theater, Class 6 Store, Bowling Alley, Cafeteria, Shoe Repair Shop, Barber Shop and Auto Repair facility. It was the center of social life for military personnel and dependents in the Yokohama area and was operated as part of the Naval Housing Activity Yokohama(NHAY) which also operated an O-Club, NCO Club, Pool and Sports complex. The exchange area was about 4 miles from Sankeien Gardens and 1.56 miles from Niles Kinnick US Hiugh School.

Eric:

When we were in Yokohama ('54 to '57) those SJC kids who played soccer were for the most part Chinese whose families had fled from places like Shanghai when the Reds took over in 1948. Those kids were the smartest in class, the best in art class and the best athletes. I was always in awe of them. The baseball team was very good in those days too and their star was a pitcher named Nakajima (Japanese of course). We had kids of 30 different nationalities enrolled including a Pakistani and an Indian in my class who never spoke to each other. The brothers who taught there were of several different nationalities too including French (Alsatian), American and Spanish.

Where was the International School that you went to? On the Bluff also? St. Maur was a girls school next door to St. Joseph's but they could have been in another city since we rarely saw the girls. I went back in 2005 and St. Joseph's was gone, supplanted by a large condo development. The only evidence of SJC was a brass plaque at the entrance of the condo complex. St. Maur was still there but apparently co-ed.

Incidentally, we traveled to Japan on the USS Gen. Randall and went through a typhoon on the Pacific getting there. We flew home on a Pan Am DC 6, the last of the propeller silver birds.

YIS was on the Bluff, within walking distance of St. Joseph's. I remember there were many Chinese kids as well as children of European families. After I left YIS, one of the teachers, Mr. Yajima, took a position at SJC.
Yajima was a native German who as a young man served in the WW II German Army in Russia. He married a Japanese woman and took her family name, which I understood was sometimes the custom when a family had no male heir.
We shipped out on five MSTS ships for the six trips we made across the Pacific, 1951-1961. Our last trip was on the General W. A. Mann which came into Oakland. In 1959 or 60, Dad was on one of PAA's first 707 flights from SFCA to Tokyo and thought it was wonderful.
Dad was a Mason and in the Shrine Club, which was one of the few connections to Western Civ in Japan at the time. The Shriners had an annual parade through a park in Tokyo with a picnic in the afternoon. One of the most difficult things to explain to Japanese was why seemingly ordinary, normal Americans would dress up as Arabs once a year.
Dad was an old China hand. He had been a commercial pilot in the 1930s for China National Airlines Company (owned by American Airlines at the time.) He had joined a lodge in Shanghai in 1930 or so and was surprised to find it had relocated to Tokyo after China fell to the Reds in '49. Many members were Chinese that he knew from those days.
Many others were American vets who had served some portion of their tours in the Pacific. After their uniformed days, they joined civil service to fill the thousands of Army support positions brought about by the Occupation, Korea, etc. Many of them just didn't want to go home.

Hi everyone. Some time ago I mentioned a site that gave unbelieveable close up photos. Have been workong with it and now it seems that Yokohama does come in . These images show wonderful detail. I have gone to my old neighborhood at Medori Gaoka in Naka Ku. I thought that my old apartment building was there [ on the old google earth] but now it seems as if it might not. I urge you to go to MAPS.LIVE.COM and be sure you go to BIRDS EYE . It is wonderful. Hi to all !

Just a shout out to anyone who lived at Bayside Courts around '68-69.
I worked at the Army's Printing and Publication Ctr.

Hi Joe, I have seen your previous posts. I stayed at Bayside Courts for only a short time at the beginning of my time in Yokohama 67-69. However went there every day to pick up the transport to Center pier to inspect food. The other guys in my outfit lived there. Prehaps you recall John Boyle or Terry Breightenstein. Both were were with the USAVDJ [ Veterinary Detachment] Yokohama Branch. From what I have picked up on this forum I know that at Negishi racetrack there was a printing office that was taken over by the US forces after ww2. The Japanese had a printing shop there to make maps of there Pacific theater. As you may know there is nothing left of old Bayside courts. I did reveal a secret some time ago, a secret that you might know about. Besides the expected facilities there Barber shop ect there was a massage palor at Bayside courts. As I remember it was in the second building to the right and in the far corner near the tunnel. Sound familiar? I was told that the MP's were also housed at Bayside and I know that there were some Officers quarters there. Strange.. my wife and I spent a new years eve visiting with a captain in my outfit. We sure could have found a more fun time.. oh well. I lived in an apartment about 20 minutes walk from Bayside courts on this lovely little hill next to a Japanese high school. If you have gone over the posts here you probably know a lot of what life was like for me then. This forum has been a real joy to share experiences with several wonderful people who were kind enough to "pipe up". So tell me Joe, What is your fondest memory of your time in Yokohama?

Thought I remembered Joe posting quite a while back. Check out Page 1, Post #16 of this forum for some of Joe's comments about what he enjoyed.

Hi Lori.. Read Joes old post
Sommetime I would like to start at the beginning and read it all. Is there a book here? Would like to hear from Wally and Eric again. I suppose it is cherry blossom time now in Yokohama. The apple trees are in bloom here and it reminds me of Japan. Hope you are well.

Except for the frustration of not knowing the language, my 18 month stay in Yokohama (Bayside Courts) was an exciting one. I have fond memories of Sankei en (spelling?) gardens, Motormachi, the Zebra Club and the friendly locals.

Took a trip to Hakone and Atami and went to Shinjuku every other weekend or so.

The Printing Center I worked at was in Kawasaki. A bus would pick us up at Bayside. There were about 10 of us, all Army. The Printing Center had a 100+ Japanese working there, in addition to the dozen or so Americans. We printed mostly DOD brochures and leaflets. The leaflets were in Vietnamese and air dropped over Vietnam.

Your comment about the massage parlor at Bayside made me laugh. For $2.00 you got a great massage and for a $1.00 more got the "special".
No need to explain what the "special" was-lol.
I still have a glass encased kimono-doll and sculptured wood Buddah I bought there.

On the negative side I remember the air pollution there was significant, much worse than my home town of N.Y.C.

Question:
What is on the land now where Bayside Courts was?

Best wishes to all!

Joe.. There is an apartment complex where bayside courts used to be. If you want to see it, you could try a site called Google earth. It will take just a moment to load but you can see anywhere on earth. To find Bayside courts I would suggest that you find yokohama and then go to where the zebra club also used to be.. next to Yamashita park that is still there. Then move up the road toward Bayside courts. To be sure you are at the right place look for the tunnel that ran through the hill.. it has TWO passages now. Also you can see the area that was the Officers club on the hill. There have been an amazing number of changes in that area. Try to find where your print shop was in Kawasaki. Good luck.. I bet you will not find it. It took me a month to find my apartment building and I'm not sure I still am certain I found it. Thanks for the "special" confirmation" this now confirms my suspicions. If I had known the military condones these activities. Maybe I should have stayed in.

Tried Google-I don't have the patience to find it. Thanks though!

I'll come from time to time to check out the posts here.
Best wishes,
Joe

P.S. Some were in for the "specials" every night! lol

Although my Dad was in the USAF (stationed at Chofu Air Base), we used to make regular shopping trips to the gigantic BX (Base Exchange) at Yokohama. My brother and I were very young children at the time, but we both have fond memories of Yokohama US Naval Base. Does anyone else remember the hotdog cart outside the front entrance? Those were the best sauerkraut dogs on the planet!

I don't remember the hot dog cart but I do remember the yakitori carts all over the place. For 100 yen (28 cents) you got some bar-b-q chicken on a stick.

I also do not remember the hot dog stand, but there was alittle Japanese place about a block from the exchange that had the BEST Gyoza in the world! Also I recall that every year that held a Japanese-American friendship day or something like that. There were hot dogs hambergers and yaki tori, don't recall what activities they had but I remember that it was a little lame. I remember the Cotton Candy vendor and the Japanese were somewhat preplexed by this treat. A Japanese friend of mine asked what it was made of and I think he did not believe that it was sugar. To him it was way too sweet and sticky. He stayed at our apartment a few times and we served him an american breakfast, corn flakes. I thought he would like it as it was grains ect. He couldn't eat it as I think he found it revolting. Gave him some sardenes instead, he loved these, on Rits crackers. Also treated him to a bubble bath, what a riot
I think he had to go a long way to try and accomidate "foreign" customs.
He tried to teach me how to write in Kanji..they howled at how we made the strokes. I tried to teach them the alphabet but I'm not sure they understood how it all worked.. who does? Went to Tokyo with civilian friend an my wife who was a teacher and was an English major in school. We tagged along to an Japanese university as he had businesss there and waited outside the building for him. We were immediately approached by lots of students to try there english. One man said to me " can I ask a question about english? I said sure.. I believed that I could answer his question as english was my native language.. hey no problem ne? so he launched into the most complex question .. man I had that in school but for the life of me I could not answer his very astute question. I deferred to my wife who, after a little thought on her part explained the arcane answer, he countered with a follow up question that I couldn't follow either. This guy could understand the english language better than I. Good for him ! And what a surpise for me. Go figure.

When I lived in Japan in the early '80s, there was a Bon Odori "open house" in the parking lot of the NEX complex on Honmoku Dori. This took place in August. Besides hotdogs, hamburgers and cotton candy from the American concessions stands, I remember of the Japanese concession stands made Okonomiaki. The best way to describe it was that it was kind of a cross between a pancake and an omelette. You could choose what you wanted the cook to put in it. They were delicious. Another was Yakisoba.
One of the activities for Bon Odori was O-bon dancing. There also may have been a similar "open house" for the Fourth of July - don't quite remember. Ah.....memories!!

Our First year there we went to the Bon Odori at the Exchange and just watched, listened and basked in all of the exotic feelings. We had been there only a month at that point. By the next year we decided to join in "whole hog". We put on our yukutas obi's and all the stuff we thought we had to wear and hit a taxi to the exchange. I recall that I had a a problem finding a place to keep my wallet.[went in the sleeve]. Anyway we got there and the dancing was already in progress. all of a sudden, some older [ and somewhat cute] Japanese woman grabbed me and started to undress me.. she was saying hedari-mai Hedari-mai... she properly re-folded my yukata and looked me in the eye and said yoi!!
It seemed in my ignorance I had folded the yukata the wrong way.. like they do when they bury a dead person...oops. When i figured this out I gave her a very deep bow.. almost in jest and thanked her sincerely. She was very pleased with herself. Then I did the unthinkable. I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek!! Her family roared with laughter as she blushed with embarrassment as to die. What a wonderful moment. With our yukatas in place we wanted to join the dancers but almost could not as everyone wanted our photographs, so we poised for the Japanese and americans alike in our Yukatas laughing and having a great time. After a while we did join up at the circle dance. After a few moments you could learn the steps and then just flow with it. I was aware of flashes from cameras, but I was into the dance. We danced the night away at the bon odori on the warm Yokohama night and it seemed at that time we became Japanese. Somewhere out there there are photographs of a couple of young kids dancing to the memories of their ancestors.

My Japanese friends in the 1956 Yokohama neighborhood invited me to attend this event, held in a park near our house in Sannotani. Masako, our maid, asked if I might feel out of place, being the only American in a sea of Japanese kids. "Don't worry," I said, "I'll wear my kimono\ and no one will notice."
So, dressed in my grey kimono and black sash and wearing wooden gatas, I clogged over to the neighborhood park with Masako. I was the only gaijin in attendance.
I needn't have worried. My adopted uncle, Sase-san, our neighborhood policeman, always seemed to know where I was...

Eric You may have put this together but the policeman Sase-san was the father of our friend Kaoru who was with us on this site and whos wonderful english I miss very much. They say that the end of Bon Odori they float small paper sailboats down the river to send the souls of the dear departed back to heaven. I never saw this festival but it sounds like a beautiful event, prehaps the Japanese equivilent of a viking funeral.

Yes. I know Kaoru san from corresponding with him via email.
Finding the Sase family after 45 years is a detective story...