Quite a few of us took a Navy-sponsored tour of Tokyo on 21 September 1969. As you can see from the satellite view, the naval base at Yokosuka is maybe 60 miles south of Tokyo, on Tokyo Bay.
According to my journal: “Saw a couple of Olympic stadia (sic). [The 1964 summer games were held in Tokyo.] Went to a Japanese restaurant [duh] and had sukiyaki and beer. Very good. Ate with chopsticks. Then went to a shrine (Shinto), Tokyo Tower, and a show. Got back at about 1900.”
Someone, I’m guessing ENS Curran, took a couple of pictures of me at the restaurant. One downside of photography back then was you couldn’t check immediately to see if the subject was in focus!
The “show” to which I referred was somewhat of a surprise, considering our presence at it was Navy-sponsored. Here is the cover of the show program, with “pasties” added to keep the blog family-friendly. 🙂 The show wasn’t all uncovered women; there were clothed singers and comics. I don’t remember them really, but I still remember that young lady in the front.
Here’s a gallery of cruise book photos of Japan, most of them, I expect, taken on a tour such as this.
And here’s a couple of galleries of photos I took on the tour. First is of the swim/diving venue for the 1964 Olumpics.
And a temple.
A couple of days earlier, I had reported in my journal that I had joined LTJG Meyers, LT Libbey, LTJG Marsters, and LTJG Rogers on a sweep through the Navy Exchange. “Almost bought the place out.” This was mostly about cameras. I purchased a Nikon FTN w/50 mm lens for $233, a Tamron 80-250 mm zoom lens for $120, and various filters, lens caps, etc. Still have that iconic Nikon. Of course, I have not used it for many years.
