Living in Japan and Okinawa - Part Two

     Within a decade after the end of the terrible war that almost completely leveled Tokyo and killed thousands upon thousands of people, Tokyo was a bustling, lively city, bursting with energy.  It is truly a testament to the resilience, dedication and hard work of the Japanese people, and of course, the tremendous help that Japan received from the United States, that Tokyo could recover so quickly.  
     Even before the war and its destruction of the city, Tokyo was a world class city, a metropolis, not just a town.  Granted, there were no skyscrapers then as now, but nevertheless, it was a major city in the world.  By the mid 1950s, Tokyo barely showed signs of the terrible war, truly an amazing accomplishment, and there were new large and tall buildings such as the Nikkatsu in Nishi-Ginza, and Roppongi was fast becoming a trendy area, especially for the younger generation.  There were many things that were available in Tokyo that were not that easily found elsewhere.  The wonderful Fujiya Bakery was famous for their feather-light strawberry short cakes.  It was amazing how they were able to make such light yet tasty desert.  Today, the Fujiya strawberry short cake has taken on a different identity - it is known all over Japan as a "Christmas Cake."
     For kids who were old enough to be on their own, pre-teens, Tokyo was absolutely a marvelous place to be in the 1950s.  You could take a trolley to just about anywhere around Tokyo.  If you wanted to venture outside the city, you could take the trains that would take you as far as you wished to go.  It was absolutely safe, exciting place to be.  To this day, I believe Tokyo is one of the safest, if not the safest large cities in the world!
     In contrast, Okinawa in the 1950s was very rural.  Naha, the largest city on the island was but a village.  It was equivalent of a small town on the outskirts of Tokyo, not a city.  It is not surprising that most Americans referred to any town, be it Naha or Koza, as "vills," short for village.  When we moved to Okinawa in 1957, we went from living in Azabu in central Tokyo to Camp Chinen, at the southern tip of the island of Okinawa.  Had we moved to some place like Kadena, Sukiran, or other larger military base and housing area, the difference would not have been so great.  It would have been a transition more like moving from private rental in Tokyo to Camp Zama or Yokota Air Base.  But going from a bustling city, living in a house amidst Japanese people to a relatively isolated Camp Chinen was somewhat of a cultural shock.
     For younger kids, life in Camp Chinen was good.  But for older kids it was not always the greatest place to be.  There was a small movie theater that showed movies, a bowling alley with four lanes, a gym, a tiny library and a PX.  Of course there was the Club Hotei for the grown ups.  Drinking was very much part of the social life in the 1950s so Club Hotei was a very necessary watering hole for Camp Chinen residents.  There was a golf course spread out through out the "lower base," tennis courts, and a swimming pool.   
     Camp Chinen was located at the top of a hamlet, a couple of hundred feet above sea level.  Out here in the western part of the U.S., it would be called a butte or a mesa.  To reach Camp Chinen you had to go up a winding road up a steep hill that Americans called "Habu Hill."  The closest village of any size, Baten, was at the bottom of "Habu Hill" before you started the steep climb.  The next decent size village heading north towards Naha was Yonabaru.  In all, it took about a half hour to get from Camp Chinen to Naha.  The closest Teen Club at Naha Air Base or Machinato Housing Area was a good 45 minutes away by a car, driving at the 30 mph (the legal speed limit on Okinawa)!  For a 9th Grader with no car, getting to those Teen Clubs was not something that could be done easily.  Fortunately I had a friend, Larry, who was a senior at Kubasaki and would borrow his parents' car from time to time and we would go to one of the Teen Clubs. 
     Although I did get out once in a while, mostly thanks to Larry, for most of the time during that first year on Okinawa, I spent my time in Camp Chinen and the immediate surrounding area.  I befriended the bowling alley manager, a fascinating man who was originally from Hiroshima and a former tokkotai, a kamikaze pilot as a teenager in the closing days of the war. Although I did not bowl, I spent a lot of time chatting with him.  I also befriended the manager of gym and spent time with him playing go - he taught me how to play go. But the activity that allowed me to see Okinawa from  a different perspective was my avid interest in hunting.  I spent hours upon hours roaming around the countryside outside of Camp Chinen, for about a six month period, usually from around October until March.  When I was in Tokyo, I was taken hunting by adults which allowed me to see Japan in a very different light.  I visited various areas around Honshu, hunting pheasant, partridge, duck, and other game.  I was taken on these hunting trips by a very close family friend and my Japanese uncle whom we met for the first time when we came to Tokyo in 1953!  But on Okinawa, I did not have anyone to take me around, so I had to do it all on my own.
     How times have changed!  When we came to Camp Chinen, I expressed my interest in hunting.  I was told that I had to get an Okinawan hunting license through our Security Office which cost all of $1.00!  The security officer suggested that I hunt within Camp Chinen, that it was OK for me to shoot as long as I was away from the houses!  However, I did not feel comfortable about shooting within Camp Chinen and chose to hunt outside.  I would walk down the steep hill from the back gate of the "upper base" (housing area) with my dog and my shotgun.  Can you imagine doing something like that today?  There would be a SWAT team on the scene within 10 minutes!  Sometimes I hunted with my buddy Larry, a lot of times I went on my own. 
     I roamed around all over.  Depending on which direction I went, sometimes I ended up in Bucknerville area which was just above the village of Baten, or if I went in the other direction I would find myself by the seashore at a place called Okutake, or at an area of vast rice paddies called Funakoshi.  Thinking back, it is amazing how much I walked.  If I did that today I would drop from exhaustion within a couple of hours!  I learned a lot about rural Okinawa and Okinawan people.  Whenever I met anyone, they were always friendly and more than willing to give me information or direction.  I learned about the surrounding area and life in that part of Okinawa.  I would often stop at one of the tiny country stores and buy an ice cold coke and some Okinawan crackers, bisuketo for a grand total of about 15 cents!  It was during these excursions that I first learned how different Okinawan people were from the Japanese.  They seemed to me to be completely different, much less reserved, much more outgoing.  On those occasions, when I was roaming around the Okinawan countryside, life was good, very good.