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Dave-san, like so many others on this forum I really appreciated the youtube and flicker links you found and shared with us -- thank you! With your easy to follow directions, I took Google's street-view tour of Omarudani-zaka downhill, turned right at the bottom, which took me to Motomachi, another random right turn took me back uphill through the Yamate Italian Hill Garden area near your old house. What a lovely neighborhood -- though some of the buildings have changed, the streets remain narrow, partly shaded with leafy green, and I even found some stone walking steps that headed uphill, but the little yellow Google man refused to go up them. Thanks for the trip along memory lane.
Your memory of Dick and Jon Shaw, the twin brothers with blond crew cuts, is right on target. They weren't identical twins and did not resemble each other except for the blond crew cuts. I went to the Yo-Hi Junior Prom with Jon, who I think became Yo-Hi's senior class president the following year. My dress was made by a seamstress on Motomachi Street from a picture in Seventeen magazine. The seamstresses took your measurements, created a muslin pattern, and with only one fitting, their fine workmanship produced beautiful clothing starting with a mere picture -- what a luxury that was for an ordinary teenager! Those were the days when the girls had dance cards, on which the young men could sign their names for an appointment, so to speak, for a dance. First and last dances were reserved for the young man who brought you to the dance. Anyone remember dance cards? Since you recall Dick and Jon, Dick lives in San Diego, and Jon, a military psychiatrist, lives in Florida. For additional information that comes in the Yo-Hi newsletter, try jnjrowe at suddenlink net. A very clever idea!
Since you ask, my connection with Pennsylvania comes through my father, who was born and raised in Altoona. My grandparents' home was our official address while my father was in the Navy, and I spent many summers with my Altoona grandparents between our frequent military moves. I was happily surprised to read that you were born in nearby Johnstown because my husband was born and raised there -- attended Garfield School and graduated from from Johnstown High School in 1952. We were in Johnstown two years ago, rode the Inclined Plane up to Westmont, enjoyed the lovely view from a restaurant on top of the hill, visited three outstanding museums, and sadly learned that my husband's family home had been neglected and abandoned to the point of deriliction.
I'm sorry to hear that you haven't found your yearbook -- don't give up the search. My high school journalism teacher in Wheeling, West Virginia, loved that yearbook, borrowed it for a while, so that he and the printer could reproduce the silk brocade look in imitation leather for the Triadelphia High School yearbook, a tradition that continued for many years.
Does anyone remember the distinctive smells of Yokohama? I remember that all the dresser drawers and wooden boxes that I opened, and many of the Motomachi shops I entered -- all had a distinctive, not unattractive but slightly medicinal smell of cedar. We also had a large cedar tree in our garden, so that is the one smell that always takes me back to Japan.
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