Toledo (CA 133) - Naval Cruise Book

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Nagoya. famed Japanese port. industrial center. and home of the prineipal Hitsu- bishi aircraft plants was our first stop out- side of 1-0h'0S1lh'll. Late in Norenilwr ive made the short trip dotrn the roast of Hon- shu to Nagoya. and fought our :ray into the pier against the attaching jets of the Fifth lir Foree. It seemed that just nobody loved llS-r0l'0I'j'll'll0l'0 we u'ent. attaching units were sure to greet us. send us to G. or ,Jir Defense. But they provided a -ueleome like the one at Nagoya when we finally docked. The Air Force band on the end of our pier blared out 'Ulnehors :l1l'Uigll,, and Off in Go Into the Wild Blue Yonderv an Honor Guard was paraded, and we were there. The Air Foree had it all arranged-bus schedules to town, guides for tours, open doors at the elu bs-and the Navy had cause to take full advantage of such hospitality. The city was covered like a blanketn in no time, as we sau' ruins, clubs, Cloisonne, damascene, the Noritake factory-as we saw Nagoya. First of the Hcocktail runsf' it was remembered as one ofthe very best.

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view of a umodernn city we saw in Japan. ln all directions were large office buildings which the pin-point accuracy of the B-29 had carefully avoided. Many of these had been refitted as hotels for the Uccupation personnel. A few blocks up on Avenue Aj, was the Dai Ichi building in which General MacArthur had his offices. Across from this the Imperial palace grounds were sur- rounded by two moats. This was a point of interest for every Tokyo sightseer probably with the hope of catching a fleeting glimpse of some member of the Imperial family. Heading in the other direction from the NRTOW we came to one of the famous streets of the world, the uGinza. Along this were located the large stores, both Japanese and foreign owned, but the fame of the avenue is due to the solid bank of small stalls which line both si'des as far as the eye can see. Each sells its own particular wares and is defi- nitely out of the rent district while in the high rent district, so to speak. Some of the dope passed over the rail from the MANCHESTER must have con- cerned the institution of the usukiyakin party because back in Yokosuka these began to flourish. By making proper arrangements with the Provost Marshal such a party could be held at one of several local restaurants. Once arranged the party was something to remember. The food itself, a glorified and very delicious beef stew of sorts, makes a fine dinner, but the Japanese beer and saki which go hand in hand with it, plus, of course, the Geisha to serve it, added the fin- ishing touches. The only possible difficulty was the manipulation of the chop sticks, the finer points of which escaped many as did much of the food enroute to the mouth.

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Full honors for Commanding General, Sth Alr Force Even in Japan they play shuffleboard The scene is th esame in Nagoya, Long Beach or Timbucfu A bunch of the boys . . . Before anyone had much of an opportunity to accustom himself to the different ways of doing the same thing, this familiar note was seen in the plan-of-the-day: Wlhe ship expects to get underway at l000.'i This time we were to go out and help the local Air Force boys repel an attack by people wear- ing the same uniform, hut stationed on Okinawa. The next few days while we cruised slowly up and down the southern coast with our radars forever looking, the various air de- fense stations again were well inhabited, MIKI remembered and the future seen if not realized. Finally the HFEAF Test was over and the ship headed for Nagoya. With a thirty-mile, very shallow channel, the special sea details set a new record of four hours on station before the ship threaded its way alongside the pier to the 111usic of the Air Force band there to greet us. Already we were beginning to find at least one thing to the satisfaction of all-in the three ports visited since Long Beach was left far astern we had tied up all three timesg the likes of this had not been seen since the days of midshipman cruises. Nagoya was good liberty. Here was lo- cated the headquarters of the 5th Air Force and they had the place well organized with an Airmenis Club and another for the Top Three Gradersfi The latter was unusual nomenclature, but no one seemed to experi- ence any trouble translating it. The Air Force liaison people also told us that there was quite a hit to see around. Nr. lVlikimoto's pearls, so many of which were to join the already-mentioned stream of local products heading across the water. came from this area, and some went out to look over the pearl farm. Also, this was the