As fate would command, I found myself in Japan from August 1961 until the eve of 1964, stationed at Atsugi. Young and impressionable upon my arrival via Pan Am in that autumn of 1961, I was only 19 and totally fascinated with this great nation called Japan. My bus ride from the old Tokyo International Airport to the plains of Kanto in Kanagawa was like a course in National Geographic history. To say that I was excited would be an understatement; my excitement was at its height. Never in my life had I been so excited, so elated, so expectant of my new duty station. The yen was 360 per dollar at the time and being young and full of the curiosity young men have, I sensed that the exchange rate would be in my favor. As an artist, my supplies for painting would be most affordable; as a reader of Penguin history pocketbooks, I soon found that I could buy them at half the price I had paid for them in the USA. But what excited me was the sheer joy of being in a country that was full of beautiful music, aromatic scents of foods I was anxious to try, beautiful women with smiles were beautiful beyond words, buildings with roofs that made me anxious to sketch and photograph. Oh, the bus ride was just an introduction to my joyful tour in a most beautiful nation. PHOTO IMAGES OF JAPAN is an image that will lead the viewer to old photographs taken in the early 60s, sketches and paintings I made while in Japan and work I have done since.
You, the viewer, are cordially invited to enjoy my volume of works about the Japan of the 1960s; you are invited to leave me comments about the different scenes. I always appreciate feedback and suggestions. Know that I love Japan and the Japanese, a fact the viewer will surely realize upon beginning an pictorial journey through my Flickr photostream and my blog, BLOGABOUTJAPAN.
Thank you, Robert L. Huffstutter
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