Thursday, September 18, 2008

Okinawa Photos


It’s a little difficult to try and decipher the circumstances of photographs taken over 40 years ago. It was during my stay in Okinawa that I purchased a Nikon-F, the first SLR camera made. So these photos were made with that camera.

In 1965 Okinawa, although nominally part of Japan, was wholly controlled by the United States. A stark contrast existed between life on the base and the world outside the gates. Certainly the local populace lived closer to third-world conditions than one might have expected. Dirt roads: common. Paved roads: not so common.

Short haircuts were mandatory in the Army, requiring frequent trips to the barber. Luckily, I managed to find a good-looking barber!

But that’s the thing. At one point I would have remembered her name. But not now.

Photos: Kids Playing—Okinawa, 1965; Barber—Okinawa, 1965

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