George Clymer (APA 27) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 13 text:

KOBE Kobe, located on southern 1 [onshu [sland and rivaled only by Yokohama as fapan ' s main sea port, was the tirsi stop Eor the CHORCI: CLYMER and crew after 19 days at sea. Quickly unloading the troops from the sliip, Kobe became Invaded by the men 01 the CO MI:K. To many it was the livsl time in Japan.. .the first rides in rickshaws ...Japanese shops ... Oriental cabarets with the American touch ... cute shy Japanese sjirls . . . However, to many others it was the same old thing ... it was JAPAN ' . . . our first impression of Japan other than the signs were different . . the people were different . . and home was never like this . . ah so deska !! , our first view of Japan . . not very romantic . . but it was land g. ' UBI. ] 3 . . Hey swabbie . . you from two seven, ne ? .Ah so ! two seven in port . .

Page 12 text:

Af»AN Japan ... a nation where Geisha girls were real . . . a nation where we would soon learn that ohio now meant good morning; that many of the women loved yen more than they did the sailors; yes, we were to learn much from these smart industrious people. We would soon understand why they read boots from tack to front; why they loved Mt. Fuji as much as we did our Statue of Liherty ; why Sukiyaki the fried meat, raw egg dish tasted hetter with a hottle of wine called saki ; why honey buckets didn ' t smell like honey; why hot Laths were so popular; why rickshaws could never replace the Ford; and why their Coal miner Dance-Tanko-Bushi-could lie a threat to our Funny Hop. We watched crowded cities of crowded souls push into crowded homes. We warmed our hands over hihachi pots. We taked to mama-san, bargained with girl-san, and photographed baby-san. It didn ' t take long to find out that benjo didn ' t mean banjo and that San Diego blondes were not to be bound. And before we were to bid our sayonaras many or us would become American-Asiatics and be squared away to the ways of Japan and the Orient.

Page 14 text:

w5 next • • on I homo port in japan- Y O K O S U K A ... a bird ' s eye view of the base . . . but beyond these gates lay the adventure . . . . . . intrigue . . . and romance of the Orient . . . It was the greatest liberty port in the world. It had more variety than Marseille;, more beauty than Valparaiso. It ' s prices were cheaper than New York ' s, it ' s drinks better than Lisbon ' s. And there were more pretty girls than in I aluti. It was Yokosuka, known throughout all the fleets ol The World as yu-koss-ka, and almost every man who bad been there once had a girl waiting for him when he got bach the second time. For in the cities near the port were millions ol pretty girls who loved American sailors and their hilarious ways and their big pay checks. It was a great liberty port. So says lames Mitchner in his novel. BRIDGE AT TO-KORI. And so right be was . . . except for the fact that he didn ' t mention the absence of the families like those waiting bach in San Diego, or the sweethearts that wrote from the cities of the Mid-West, nor the nostalgic smell of our Eastern sea-board, or the music that floated up from down south of the Mason-Dixon . . . but they tried and okosuka was to be our new borne. And we tried to made okosuka, our new home and we did ! It was great Liberty 1 ort . .