Our move to Tokyo would be our last move while in Japan. We remained living in Grants for the remainder of the tour of duty.
We left to return to the States in 1960. In the 15 years since the end of World War II, Japan was emerging as an economic global power . . . like some sleeping giant awakening from hundreds of years in an isolated feudal society. I found the people to be hard working, ambitious and creative. Steeped in historical tradition, the land of the Rising Sun was forging a new path, merging with Western World Culture, while still retaining so much of its past culture.
With a total land area of less than California, a population of more than 120 million, and a democratic form of government, today Japan is high-tech with its futuristic super fast trains, modern skyscrapers and a worldwide competitive economy. Things are quite different in this 21st century than in the 1950s. They were just emerging from a feudal society cocoon.
By the time we moved to Tokyo, I had become more accustomed to Japan’s strange language, different society, and unique way of thinking. However, I had not become accustomed to frequent earthquakes and tremors. When our house started shaking, so did I. And despite the fact there were no major ones, there were still frequent small ones that usually lasted a few minutes.
While living in Japan I decided to get out more among the natives and involve myself in all the military activities at the officers’ club. I don’t recall how it started, but began doing some Japanese TV commercials, which led to some modeling jobs.
One was modeling native kimonos for a clothing store, for which I was featured in one of the company’s magazines. It seemed so strange seeing myself pictured in a magazine with Japanese character writing. Another modeling job was posing for a Hitachi washing machine ad. In the television ads I never spoke, but was usually placed on a moving turntable type apparatus while someone talked as I turned. It was all black and white back then. One thing led to another and I wound up doing some work in Japanese films.
I became more interested in the Japanese culture as time went by and took courses in their flower arranging and arts and crafts classes. I recall the thrill of winning first place in a flower arranging show. It was at the time Sputnik was launched and I did an arrangement from a round ceramic container that represented Sputnik.
Being a bridge player, I began playing a lot of duplicate bridge. The games were usually held at the Tokyo Press Club and at the Officers’ Club. I became a good player and usually came in the winners’ circle of the first three places. I began playing with a number of Japanese students who were brilliant players but mostly spoke no English aside from bidding in English. When I left, these students gave me a jewelry party.
One, whose family owned a jewelry store, designed a silver key pin with pearls in it and presented it as the key to Tokyo. I still have that pin. My daughter wears it a lot. It was one of the highlights of my tour there.
I sometimes played with a lovely Japanese lady as my partner whose husband was high up in the Japanese government. One day, she asked me to play with a friend of hers I had never met. I was standing at the back of the bridge room at Tokyo Press Club when this tall stately lady in full Japanese dress entered. All the Japanese players bowed to her. Talking to my friend, I asked, “who is that?” She replied, “that’s your partner and she is part of the Japanese Royal family.”
You could have knocked me over with a feather.
She was delightful. Not a very good player. However, we played as partners many times after that and managed to come in the winners’ circle several times. We played as partners in the coveted Prince Takamatsu Cup tournament. And later, was invited to dine with my friend and some of her other Royal friends.
I was told it had only been about five years before when they began venturing from behind the walled Royal mote. I felt quite privileged to be asked to play bridge as a partner to a member of the Royal family. I still have pictures of the tournament we played in, which was featured in the Japanese Times.
There were many perks to life in Japan during the 50s era. One was having my own dressmaker and tailor. I would buy the Paris fashion books and magazines and they would copy such designers as Balenciaga and Channel. My dressmaker was a delightful lady and extremely talented. One day she came and informed me she had always wanted to have her own fashion show. I said, “no problem. I will arrange it.” I spoke with the officers’ wives club and arranged to have a fashion show at the officers’ club. I worked with my dressmaker for a couple of months designing the clothes and she and the tailor made them. A dozen of the officers wives agreed to model the clothes. We rehearsed several times and I showed them how to walk, turn and model their outfits. I narrated the event.
Several hundred officers’ wives attended from the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Marines. They enjoyed a lovely luncheon and the fashion show. The fabulous 50s was a time when ladies dressed up with hats and gloves, even to do grocery shopping. No jeans and t-shirts out in public during that era. When the 60s came, our lifestyles changed drastically.
During the tour in Tokyo, my husband spent a lot of time away on temporary duty. Once was a nine-month tour in Burma training the Burmese to fly helicopters. It was while he was there the book titled “The Ugly American” came out. The setting for the book was in Burma. It was a rather explosive, uncomplimentary book about Americans. I recall his writing, as there were a few copies in Burma passed around secretly for reading by the Americans stationed there at that time.
After moving to Tokyo, I had a great deal of furniture custom made. There were many wonderful craftsmen in the area. One piece I had made was an Oriental wedding chest with 150 pieces of engraved brass. Craftsmen had been making this particular piece many years but always in mahogany. I wanted one done in pecan wood. The maker argued and was very reluctant to make it in a different wood. He finally agreed and it turned out absolutely beautiful. Everyone who saw it wanted one. As a result, the maker got a lot of business from referrals after that.
I had all my silver flatware plus a silver candelabra made by a famous silversmith, who I understand made silverware for Macarthur and Nixon.
Because my husband was a pilot flying to other areas, he brought back exquisite material from places like Hong Kong and India. The beautiful English wool, gorgeous Indian sari silks, and an array of semi-precious stone grapes like jade and rose quartz. One thing he brought me was an exquisite ivory carved chess set and a magnificent banquet sized tablecloth that took one person from China a year to make. There were so many beautiful things I acquired during the couple of years I lived in Tokyo.
We enjoyed a lot of Japanese theatre. My daughter recently mentioned her vivid memories of getting all dressed up to go into Tokyo and see, “The Ten Commandments” and the times she enjoyed participating in oriental stage plays and dances. It is a country with so much culture . . . so different from the Western world. After a rocky start, with a number of disastrous events during the first few years, I was privileged to enjoy and participate in so many great things the latter two years.
I did experience a small taste of military politics when several friends urged me to run for president of the Grant Heights Wives club. Not something I really wanted to do, but agreed to run. I lost by one vote. I daresay, I was disappointed and called a friend stationed on Okinawa. She invited me to visit. So after losing the election, me and a friend of mine arranged passage on a ship to Okinawa for a couple of weeks. The base commander’s secretary was a good friend of mine and between the friends I had there, it was a whirlwind two weeks of dining, dancing, partying and playing bridge. We were treated like royalty.
I was amazed at the facilities and how that small island had rebuilt after some of the bloodiest battles of the war were fought there. Interestingly, there was a maze of underground catacombs that many holed up in when the massive bombings took place. It was an interesting two weeks in Okinawa.
Everything considered, good bad and indifferent, I daresay it was quite an educational experience living in this strange and unfamiliar country for four years. It was one of the happiest days of my life when we docked at San Francisco after the two-week return trip aboard ship. The first thing I did was kneel down and kiss the ground of a country I love and the freedom I have enjoyed as a citizen of this great nation. After a couple of days in San Francisco, we traveled on to the next assignment, which was Stead Air Force Base in Reno for the next two years.
Let Freedom Ring!
JUST ME,
AC
