Back in Time to Old Japan

[mikewint]

it was, just too bad that i was there so long and saw nothing, might as well have been in Newark

 

[Wayne Little]

Great series of pics!8)

 

[Shinpachi]

Yes, I frankly want to see them more
In color too?

 

[mikewint]

Shinpachi, no color, i was in no physical shape to even take those pics and B&W film was all we could get. a friend who had a camera took the pics and later sent them to me. My memories of the kishine barracks are of pain and morphine and more pain

 

[Shinpachi]

Sorry, mikewint, if I may have touched your old wounds.

OK. Let me change the topic a little bit.
I said the Tokyo Tower WAS a symbol because here is another new tower under construction.

It may look a good project but, to watch the news on TV, I have wondered if the local government of Tokyo is thinking how to dismantle it in the future when it decayed, though it will be hundreds years later.

They provide a vertical tunnel to bring up the materials inside the structure but the tunnel is to be closed with the floors and rooms after completion. They can't blow up the tower because there are many people and buildings on the ground. It will be a bothersome and costy work then.

I may be nervous but that is always their way of our politicians and public servants after all
Thanks!

 

[mikewint]

Shinpachi, please no apology needed or necessary my sorrow is that I was in your country and saw little or nothing of it. the pain is long gone
my understanding of the old tower is that it was not tall enough for the new digital signals to reach all of japan while the new tower is specifically constructed with that goal in mind.
i may have more pics buried somewhere. if i find more i will post. i do not mean to pry, if you do not mind my asking what is your age? as you can see i was in vietnam so i am 66

 

[Shinpachi]

57

 

[mikewint]

Shinpachi, thank you sir, i thought you might be near my age, it is one of the reasons i posted those pics. i like looking at old photos to see how thing were and compare them to how things are now. it gives me a much deeper appreciation of the past and brings me closer to it. if i locate more photos i will post them
mike

 

[Shinpachi]

Shinpachi, thank you sir, i thought you might be near my age, it is one of the reasons i posted those pics. i like looking at old photos to see how thing were and compare them to how things are now. it gives me a much deeper appreciation of the past and brings me closer to it. if i locate more photos i will post them
mike

You are welcome and thank you very much for your nice photos as well as the fantastic conversation with you, mikewint.

When I was a kid, there were already not a few Americans and other westerners in Japan but our grownups hesitated to talk to them because of their war memory. I was always watching you and your fathers/mothers/brothers with much curiousity. Yeah, I remember now - mother of one of my friends at kindergarten was an American though I lost chance to meet her. He often spoke English with my unfamiliar accent that I could not imitate at all. I cannot do it well yet

It has taken me more than half a century to reach here but I am very happy now to communicate with you all directly. I look forward to further communications with you and other members here in the future.

Thanks.
Shinpachi

 

[fnqvmuch]

and - if i may speak for others, - we are honoured to be able to communicate with you in this place, with this common interest and respect.
steven

 

[Shinpachi]

Thanks steven
You are always good at getting to the point.
I appreciate.

 

[mikewint]

and - if i may speak for others, - we are honoured to be able to communicate with you in this place, with this common interest and respect.
steven

i echo steven's words your ability to communicate in english is excellent. my japanese vocabulary is about four words and i couldn't read even one symbol.

 

[mikewint]

Did a lot of digging through old photos, found these
1. remember seeing this building, thought it looked like the "Daily Planet" building from the Superman comics. Shinpachi are you familiar with this building and do you know of the Superman comics?
2. All i remember is that this street was somewhere near the tower. i asked my friend to take it because of the unusual 3-wheel truck
3. This was looking out the tower in the other direction. Shinpachi does any of this look familiar?

 

[Shinpachi]

Thank you, mikewint, for so many nostalgic good photographs with your kind comments.

The "Daily Planet" was the spherical signboard of a confectionary maker, Morinaga.
We all were familiar with it as it was a symbol of Ginza street.
We kids enjoyed Superman, as well as Lassie, Rawhide and Combat! on TV
The famous US comic was Snoopy.

The 3-wheel truck was popular because it was easier and cheaper to manufacure than the 4-wheel.
In my home town, local police was using many disposed US jeeps till around 1960. Officers looked as if MPs

Though no English translation is attached, I recommend you to check our recent movie
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1_t4BOL1E4produced in 2005 and 2007 as a series. It's introducing Japanese old good life in 1958 of Tokyo as a drama. The Japanese were poor but could help each other tightly much more than today because all were poor.

It may make you feel as if you were back in time to the old Tokyo again

 

[vikingBerserker]

I love the Mazda!

 

[mikewint]

Shinpachi, i hope you enjoyed those pictures. one day i will return to japan and actually see the country

 

[Shinpachi]

I love the Mazda!

Wow, vB

 

[Shinpachi]

Shinpachi, i hope you enjoyed those pictures. one day i will return to japan and actually see the country

Yes, please visit Japan again, mikewint.
You and tyrodtom gave me a good time to recall what it was in the 60s.
Thank you very much.

 

[Wayne Little]

Would like to visit Japan....know my daughter certainly would!

 

[Shinpachi]

Welcome to Japon teenagers!