Monday Goat Blogging (1965)

Goats - Okinawa  1965

I don't think that these photos have been posted on the blog before. One of my fellow servicemen in the U.S. Army was from Hyannisport, MA. He had somehow acquired a small sailboat and then somehow convinced me that it was a good idea to sail from the main island of Okinawa to one of the very smaller islands nearby.

Crazy, of course, since I can't swim, and we had no life vests.

Photos taken with a Nikon F, using Kodachrome film.

Boat - Okinawa  1965

Scooter, Okinawa - January, 1966

Motor Scooter (Okinawa) - Japan  1966

Who among us can pinpoint exactly where we were 50 years ago this month?

I don't know, maybe a lot! Maybe some weren't even born 50 years ago.

Anyway, 50 years ago this month Mike was motor scootering down a rural byway in Okinawa with his Nikon F slung over his shoulder*. At one point he impulsively stopped and clambered up a nearby hillside through the pampas grass to get a photo of his older, but still serviceable, motor scooter.


*Maybe. Can't exactly remember how the camera was carried.

Boats, Reflections Okinawa 1966

Boat, Reflections (Okinawa) - Japan  1966

Boats, Reflections (Okinawa) - Japan  1966

Down by the harbor.

I recall one episode when the local longshoremen went on strike and members of the U.S. Army were ordered in to help unload the ships. I walked onto one of the boats, tiptoed over to a hold and peered down. Yikes! It was like looking into a bottomless black pit.

Needless to say I put my hands into my pockets, sauntered away then quickly hid. It worked!

Kids, Japan 1966

Kid Throwing (Kyoto) - Japan  1966

Kids, Ditch (Okinawa) - Japan  1966

Some Nikon F black and white street photos.

Turkish Bath 1966

Turkish Bath (Okinawa) - Japan  1966

". . . the pleasant place . . ."

Somewhat cryptic messaging.

Boy, Tatami Mats, Okinawa

Boy (Okinawa) - Japan  1966

Tatami Mats (Okinawa) - Japan  1966

Photos taken during my language visits in Okinawa. A very traditional house, with tatami mats.

Per Wikipedia: "Houses built in Japan today often have very few tatami-floored rooms, if any. Having just one is not uncommon."

Cemetery, Okinawa

Cemetery (Okinawa) - Japan  1966

So . . . is this the cemetery seen in yesterday's photo? I like to think that it is.

Forest Scene, Okinawa

Forest Scene (Okinawa) - Japan  1966

While I was stationed in Okinawa I started to study the Japanese language. Somehow I got in touch with a Okinawan resident about my age (can't remember how) for the purpose of exchanging language skills. (Needless to say, his English was far superior to my Japanese.) On the weekends I took a bus to a particular stop outside of town and walked to his house in the country. I could be wrong, but this might have been the scene: a forested hillside with haze in the distance, some clothes drying and an overgrown cemetery down at the bottom.

Then again, maybe not!

Okinawa Barracks

Barracks (Okinawa) - Japan  1966

A hot, humid afternoon. Hazy sunshine and indistinct clouds high overhead. Taken on the weekend.

All the above is pure speculation, of course. Don't remember this one at all.

Monday Cat Blogging

Cat, Tatami Mat (Okinawa) - Japan  1966

Taken in Okinawa. I was stationed there from 1964 to 1966. This was at a friend's house; we were trying to exchange language skills.

Pampas Grass

Pampas Grass (Okinawa) - Japan 1966

Pampas Grass, Clouds (Okinawa) - Japan  1966

Taken in Okinawa, year somewhat uncertain, although I'm labeling them as made in 1966.

I was using a Nikon F film SLR camera, with 50mm and 135mm lenses.

(I recently discovered some unscanned slides with Okinawa and Kyoto locales. Maybe I should wait until next year to post them, since then they'll be 50 year old photos. Oh well . . . I'll just do some reposting.)

50 Years Ago Today #2

Barracks Cleanliness (Okinawa) - Japan  1964

Who among us can say, with any certainty, exactly what they were doing on this date 50 years ago?

Well, maybe some can. You've probably been able to guess that Mike can, anyway.

Yes, 50 years ago today (that is, Saturday, December 12, 1964) Mike had observed this notice posted on the barracks bulletin board, retrieved his camera and snapped this pix for posterity. (Click for larger view.)

Apparently the area assigned the 4th Platoon (located near Naha, Okinawa) was a real PIG STY (capitalized and underlined) with a number of troops having dirty butt plates. And below, what had particularly caught his attention, was the ominous message: "Pfc Mundy - Not prepared. (See me 14 Dec 64)."

The interesting thing is that - try as hard as he can - Mike simply can't remember what transpired during that fateful clarification session on the following Monday. But he expects that he, Mike Military, and Staff Sergeant Clark came to an agreeable meeting of the minds and that all was well thereafter.

(Of note: the larger organization of which the 4th Platoon was a tiny fragment was the US Army, Ryukyu Islands, otherwise known as USARYIS, sometimes pronounced "You Sorry Ass.")

Also, please recall Mike's Fort Ord 50-year post.

[Update: Sorry for the photo quality. We're talking about a 50 year old negative here.]

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

Movie Posters—Okinawa

Yes, one could see U.S. movies on base (I remember seeing A Hard Day’s Night there) but for a truly interesting experience one went to the local off-base theater and watched Japanese movies with no English subtitles.

Very entertaining. Involved a lot of guessing, as you can understand.

Please note: I have attempted to translate the movie title shown in the upper right-hand corner (a combination of hiragana and kanji) but to no avail.

Photo: Movie Posters—Okinawa, 1965

The Mysterious East

Here’s the only existing color photo documenting the view from the cafeteria near my base in Okinawa. Of course one can’t tell how accurate the colors are, but I toned down the red a skosh anyway.

The cafeteria, mind you. Of course one could always eat at the Mess Hall, but sometimes you didn’t want to.

Photo: East China Sea—Okinawa, 1965