566px-Sailor-fuku_for_winter

566px-Sailor-fuku_for_winter, a photo by roberthuffstutter on Flickr.

MAKING FRIENDS WITH JAPANESE STUDENTS IN 1961 AND 1962 By Robert L. Huffstutter

Upon seeing the students in uniforms, many of the Americans who had just arrived in Japan were confused and some worried that the nation was getting ready to militarize again.

However, upon seeing the beautiful young ladies of high school age, they soon realized the uniforms were for academic purposes. I recall my first trip to Yokohama. I took a sketch book and a few pencils and made my way toward the harbor. I always loved harbors, thus seeing Yokohama was a high priority. Helpful young students guided me to what became a favorite place, Yamashita Park. As I sketched, dozens of young lads in dark blue uniforms, many with hats, gathered around. Their smiles and polite attitudes assured me they were somewhat fascinated by seeing a single American sketching the harbor. Very soon, they were asking me questions in English, much to my surprise, and we enjoyed a pleasant conversation, though not fluent, very understandable. It was a pleasant introduction to a nation I remembered as one of fierce warriors when I was still in grade school. Naturally, movies like "Sands of Iwo Jima" came to mind, but those images were transformed very early into something completely different, a peaceful and friendly mass of polite people. When I noticed the young women in their late teens in school uniforms, I could not help but marvel at their natural beauty.

At the time, I did not notice the absence of men twenty to thirty years my senior, men who were old enough to have been my father's age. Thus, the majority of the Japanese I met throughout my tour were mostly my age, younger or older, but now I realize they were those men who were fortunate to have escaped conscription as the peace was made in 1945.

Most of those men, a generation older than myself, were not scholars but busily employed in the reconstruction of their nation. They were the men who were in construction, the men buillding the concrete forms from bamboo, the men drilling into old concrete, and those who were running new electrical lines below and above ground.

Amongst this diverse nation were groups of male and female students going about, laughing and in seemingly good moods, in school uniforms. I grew to enjoy their presence around me wherever I wandered during the daylight hours. Many of the students in school uniforms were in their late teens. It was not unusual to see these students in some of the coffee and wine shops that were so common around the different areas of Yokohama.
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566px-Sailor-fuku_for_winter by roberthuffstutter