Tortuga (LSD 26) - Naval Cruise Book

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NN! x .X K n if , - ' .H ' J l rwngmmiiun comepfe! BUGS There's a lot of beauty in Japan . . . particularly the religious shrines. Every village has at least a couple of them, and the Shintos and Buddhas seem to run a contest as to who can build the more beau- tiful structures., I guess I looked at more carved wood, laquer, and pagoda roofs than I'll ever see again. Maybe you wouldn't want them in your back yard, but for a sight-seeing tour you can't go wrong. Page Eighteen This trip to Yokosuka produced the first case of camera madness . . . and within two weeks the disease had spread through the ship like a fire out of con- trol. The symptoms are easy to recog- nize . . . a fixed stare, and an un- quenchable craving for more and more expensive cameras, more and more ac- cessories, and bigger and bigger bags to carry them all in. Finally the victim ends up buying a pack mule, loading it with 300 pounds of filters, and heading off into the wild blue slopes of Fuji- yama to die by throwing himself over a cliff trying desperately to get that perfect angle shot. And the countryside is quite lovely, too once you get away from the port towns and the big industrial areas. On the left is some of the tall timber in the mountainous country around Nikko, north of Tokyo.

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Y F w V I l 1 You don't see many signs of war in Japan any more . . . most of the skeleton buildings are new ones going up. Tokyo is a bustling, modern city. . . mostly. It's a little tattered, torn, and run down at the heels even a few blocks away from GHQ in the Dai Ichi Build- ing, but the streets are crowded with shops and people, nobody 'seems to be going hun- gry, and I guess everything's OK. There are taxis, taxis,- taxis everywhere. All shapes and sizes . . . and none of the drivers quite under- stand English. By the way, I wonder if I'll ever get used to driving on the right hand side of the road again after all these months of just the opposite in Japan. Tokyo Street Dai Ichi Building--General Headquarters . Supreme .-Allied Command , Traveling Salesman A Country .Shrine Former f-Summer Home of the Japanese C Crown Prince Page Seventeen

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You know, we get pretty spoiled in America . . . especially when it comes to taking machines for granted. Oh, they've got machines in Japan, too . . . but the average man doesn't have them in his house to help out the wife on wash day, or anything like that. Most of the people in Japan are really poor, and therefore most of the work is done by a pair of arms well lubricated with elbow grease. Japan has automobiles, too, but not in every ga- rage as we do. Most Japanese must get along with rickshaws, nondescript little wagons, and ox-carts: They drive you crazy on the highways. Oh, there's money in Japan, and a lot of brains too, but Mr. and Mrs. Public don't get the benefits of eitherthe way we do at home. There have always been two big problems in Japan . . . too many people, and too little freedom. I guess we've been lucky. Shopping in Kamakura Yokosuka is a very busy place right now. As the chief repair and recreation headquarters for the United States Fleet operating in Korean waters, its shops keep humming day and night and 1ts streets are crowded with sallors enjoying a chance to get off the ship and get that wonderful feel of pavements under their feet, again. In no time at all everybody knew at least a few words of Japanese, and loved to show them off. I wasn t the only one who-se jaw dropped the first time I heard a boatswain's mate using Japanese words to work'h1s gang on, deck. When I asked him about it at chow that day, he told me they understood it better than English. And we d only been out here a few months already! if Back for replenishment . . . Then Off again! Page Nineteen