Living in Japan and Okinawa - Part Four

     My second time around in Japan gave me a slightly different experience from the previous stay.  Because I was older and had developed different interests, I no longer prowled the Tokyo streets, checking out all the neat shops with toys and other wonderful gadgets.  My interests were now more centered around hanging around with friends in Roppongi at places like Nicola's, Hamburger Inn and Sicilia's.  My Narimasu friends were almost exclusively those who lived in private rentals and a few from the Mitsui (US Embassy) Compound in Roppongi.  But besides my American friends,  I began to hang out with some Japanese college aged young men who belonged to a motorcycle club called the "Black Knights."  My good friend Norman, a Narimasu classmate, who was riding around Tokyo on his Triumph motorcycle befriended the "Black Knights," and since I was Norman's friend, naturally I too began to hang around with them.  So, 1959 in Tokyo started my life long interest and fascination with motorcycles.
     The spring and summer of 1959 was a time when Norman and I went all over the place with the "Black Knights," we visited all of the surrounding area Tokyo!  We never got tired of riding around on motorcycles, bouncing around on some bad roads, literally rattling our teeth, or cruising at high speed on paved highways!  It was a fascinating and interesting time.  After zipping around on motorcycles with our Japanese buddies all day, we would come home, then meet at Roppongi with our American friends to party!  The energy level of teenagers is just amazing!
     I returned to Okinawa and Camp Chinen for the junior year in Kubasaki.  Life on Okinawa was drastically different for me than it was in Tokyo.  There was no easy access to entertainment areas like Roppongi, in fact there were no places on Okinawa like Roppongi.  There were entertainment areas to be sure, but they were places like Koza and Naminoue in Naha, just bars and pawn shops for G.I.s, not a very conducive place for a teen.  Teenagers just did not hang out at those places, unless they were looking to get into trouble!  There was the Pizza House in Oyama that had pizza's that tasted remarkably similar to those at Nicola's in Tokyo.  I later learned that the owner of Pizza House on Okinawa had yakuza connections same as the Nicola's' owner.  In fact, it was rumored that the first pizza chef that came to Okinawa was one of the former Nicola's' pizza makers!
     Sometimes I used to get a ride to Naha or Machinato area, but most of the time I would take an Okinawan bus from Oyakibaru, just outside of the main gate of Camp Chinen, to Naha Main Bus Terminal.  From there I would make my way to Machinato Teen Club or meet up with my buddy Tomo and hang out in Naha.  We would go see a Japanese chambara (samurai) or gangster movie for something like 15 cents, then go eat at one of the very inexpensive restaurants in the back streets of Naha.  We got to meet some very interesting characters, including a one-legged Okinawan gangster who was purportedly the leader of the Naha gang.  We never got into any trouble during those times, never got into any kind of a scuffle or any sort of altercation.  During the fall and winter months, when I didn't go to hang out with Tomo, I went hunting around Camp Chinen as I did before.
     The following year things stayed about the same.  Tomo left for Tokyo in the summer of 1960 and I hung out with my buddy Nelson.  I used to come out and spend entire weekends at his house!  We would hang out at Machinato Teen Club, go to Pizza House, or go to Futenma to play pin ball machines.  Nelson was an amazing pin ball player.  He is the only one I know who could go and play those machines and win consistently!
     In 1961 I got a motorcycle and began to spend much more time outside of Camp Chinen.  I remember one Saturday I had an appointment to have some adjustments made on my motorcycle at a shop in Yonabaru.  I wanted to get it done quickly before the shop became busy so I left Camp Chinen around 7:30 in the morning, got down to Yonabaru and was finished by 8!  I couldn't think of much to do for the rest of the day so I rode out to Machinato area to see if Tomo was around.  Tomo had returned from Tokyo and was sort of in a limbo before returning to Hawaii.  I picked up Tomo and we decided to go up to Nago!  Tomo said that he had heard there was a good Japanese restaurant in Nago, so off we went.  We got to Nago but never found the "good" restaurant, so we ate at some tiny place and headed back. 
     On the way back we swung by Kadena and while on base found ourselves in the housing area near a friend's house.  We stopped and visited for a while and before long it was time to head back to Machinato area.  I dropped Tomo off at around 5 and was back in Camp Chinen by 6.  I had spent nearly 12 hours riding around on a motorcycle!
     My fondness for motorcycles continued and while I was in the Army, although I had a car, I also had a motorcycle!  I stopped riding motorcycles shortly before getting married.  In my old age, possibly with senility, I have thought of getting a motorcycle again.  I see today that most motorcycle riders are older people, not young kids as it was in the past!  Of course the price of motorcycles today rivals that of small cars!  I suppose only older people, who are financially secure, can afford to buy motorcycles!  May be not, from time to time I do see younger people speeding around on fast bikes, especially those neat, bright colored Kawasaki Nijas!  Unfortunately or fortunately (depends on how you look at it), I don't think I am up to zipping around on a lime green colored Ninja motorcycle anymore!