Original

Original, a photo by Mustang Koji on Flickr.

Another favorite from the Flickr Photostream posted by Mustang Koji, one of my favorite photographers and curators of photos from Japan of another era. Many of the photos in Mustang Koji's photostream were taken by his father, an Army Sergeant in the U.S. Army during the Occupation era. This photo is one of Mustang Koji's aunts. She is a beautiful lady.
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This is the original B&W of the magazine cover showing my Aunt Eiko. Over the years, it had gotten cut at odd angles.

Taken in 1948 in Occupied Japan.

SOMEDAY I WILL WRITE MY NOVEL ABOUT JAPAN

My blog, BLOGABOUTJAPAN, is an ongoing narrative about my memories of Japan, accompanied by photographs and art I select from various sources.

Followers of this blog about Japan know how fond I am of Japan and how much I admire the Japanese people. I must confess that part of my love for Japan is because of the love I had for a young woman I met in Japan in 1962. It was a love that began at first sight. Sadly, it was a love that became a memory when my ship sailed toward home in late December 1963. Fate did not allow our love to continue, thus the love affair ended with a Sayonara that was my fault, a sayonara that haunts me to this day.

I could continue with this sad and romantic narrative, but it would make no difference--time has been stolen from our lives and one cannot return back in time to make changes that would effect the future. No, it is over and only memories remain. Nevertheless, the joys we shared for such a short time would fill a thick volume of a novel based on our love for the other and the events and travels we shared. Some of our conversations would create many smiles by both Japanese and American readers. We were both so innocent and young, so full of hope for our future together.

It is my goal to write this novel before I exit this world.

My love for the Japanese people is also based on the experiences I enjoyed during my tour of duty. There are so many stories about events and positive encounters I have yet to record. However, time permitting, I will write about them as I recall them. They will become a part of my novel. Some of these positive events will be illustrated with sketches and paintings. Some of the events were too intimate to illustrate, but rest assured they are still very much alive in my mind.

There was so much of Japan I did not see or experience in my tour, events that I would enjoy if I had the luxury of returning to that unique era of the 1960s Japan.

As I rode the trains from Sagami-Otsuka to Yokohama, I did not doze or sleep, I observed all that was happening in post-war Japan.

Matsuzakaya PX

Matsuzakaya PX, a photo by Mustang Koji on Flickr.

The main street of Tokyo, it was a
"must see" for me.

I clearly remember my New Year's eve at an expensive and upscale club on the Ginza on New Year's eve of 1961/1962.

This was before I met the young lady of my dreams, so I spent the evening with one of my best Navy friends. Shortly after our big party on that New Year's eve, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant-Junior Grade and sent to Naval Aviator's flight school in Pensacola. Had my eye sight been 20/20, I would have enjoyed the same duty, but I would never have met the young lady that still makes my life sweet by simply remembering her.

Life is full of joys and contradictions, but I must accredit much to Fate.

The Ginza, with its many lights must surely be quite different today than it was on New year's Eve of 1961.
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THANKS TO MY FRIEND KOJI KANEMOTO, for permission to post this photo. It was taken by his father, a Seargeant in the U.S.Army whose duties helped Japan reconstruct the nation throughout the Occupation.
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Matsuzakaya PX by Mustang Koji