Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come For You?

Our Readers Spill Their Guts

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[But first .. what is a D.R. ?? All Bad Boys should know this!  Answer at the very bottom of the page.]
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If You're a Teen in Tokyo .. Big Brother Really IS Watching You!

Funny thing, that you should bring up the OSI in Tokyo messing up our fun.  I lived as a teenager with my family, on Wash Hts in the Golden Era of 1958-60 and consider myself to have been a "player"; i.e. spending as much time away from Narimasu and parental control as physically (and financially) possible in a very highly motivated self-enrichment program, basically involving extended learning tours of the excellent educational facilities (read: bars, motorcycle rental outfits, Pachinko parlors, Yakuza hang outs, anywhere with cheap beer, easy women, etc.).  In other words: NIRVANA for a teenage gaijin boy.  The only fly in this ointment was that my dad was, shall we say, rather high up in the Kanto Plains OSI detachment.[Ed. note: OSI = Office of Special Intelligence]

At that time, I didn't really understand (or, for that matter, care about)  the "mission" of the OSI in Japan.  You may have forgotten, but this era was at the height of the Cold War, which contributed to my downfall, in a rather spectacular fashion.  One day in 1959, one of my buddies and I needed yet another "mental health" day off from Narimasu.  On this Fateful Day we decided to concentrate our studies in the Roppongi area of Tokyo, which offers (or at least did then) many fine (also cheap) bars, restaurants, amusements, etc.  Also, unknown to us at the outset, it also housed the Embassy of The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.   [Ed. note: look carefully at the larger version of Nicola's Pizza House ad on page 12; the map shows its proximity to said Embassy. It was whispered that actual spy stuff went on at Nicola's .. we didn't know for certain, but it was a good story, and good enough reason to go there!]

As it turned out, the combination of large quantities of Kirin beer, proximity to the local seat of The Evil Empire, and youthful passions was a dangerous mix.  Somehow, after quaffing (OK, chugging) excess amounts of "beeru", we decided that our democratic ideals demanded we present ourselves at the front gate (locked) of the USSR embassy and (rather loudly) express our displeasure with their social/political system. Not surprisingly, they chose to ignore us.  I felt that we had struck a blow for The American Way Of Life. That is, until I got back to Wash Hts that evening.

I should have known something was VERY wrong when my dad asked me how things had gone in school.  He usually didn't express any views at all re: my educational efforts.  Callow youth that I was, I mumbled the usual teen evasive reply.  That's when he burst my bubble, and changed my outlook on the world.  "Take a look at this", says he, handing me a nice 8X10 glossy photo.  "Jeez", says I, staring at a pretty good shot of me and my bud standing (rather drunkenly) in front of the USSR Embassy.  See, one of OSI's duties at that time was to photo any Western gaijin who approached those gates.  Oops!  It was a long time before I was able to resume my self-enrichment studies.

The real irony here is that this escapade started me thinking about the Intelligence business, and through another strange quirk of fate, also involving people I met in Tokyo, I ended up spending the rest of my adult life (so far) working for a Federal Spook outfit.  But that's another story.  And no, I won't share it with you.  Thanks a ton, Red .. I think?

Bob Halpin - "The Voice," a great singer in those teenage times - checks in from another part of the world, remembering ..
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The Grand Deception
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 Just like you, my memories are blurred regarding those days...but I remember skipping school and hanging out at the ACB listening to band after band play American pop tunes (murdering the lyrics and pronunciation).  Another thing we used to do was cut school, pool our money, buy pachinko balls, split them up, play pachinko until we had won (and we always did because we were good at it), cashed in the balls for Japanese cigarettes, took the cigarettes to the local tobacco shop who would pay us in Yen for the cigs, then we would take the money and go to the ACB and drink beer and listen to music, or take in a nudie Japanese movie (usually a French movie).

As a matter of fact, we had heard a lot of discussion regarding Bridget Bardot's first movie "And God Created Woman"...and decided that the only way we were going to see her naked was to go to the Japanese theater...so we skipped school, went through the pachinko routine and went to see the movie in the afternoon, then went home just like we had been at school all day (and probably went right into the bathroom and paid a visit to "Rosy Palm and her five sisters").

You must realize that this whole deal of cutting school involved a Grand Deception - I will explain:  The first year and a half that we lived in Japan we lived in a place called Hanegi-Cho, which was in Setagaya-Ku...quite a distance from Washington Heights.  There was no problem cutting school during these days, because I caught a morning school bus in the neighborhood that took us to Washington Heights.  If you went to Yoyogi School...you were there.  If you went on to Narimasu High School at Grant Heights, you had to transfer to another bus and ride another 45 minutes to an hour to school.  When my parents finally got government quarters, our house overlooked the bus gathering (which was adjacent to Yoyogi School).  I had to get on the damn bus or my mother would have been all over my little school cutting ass...they were all over it later on anyway when they found out how many days I had been cutting.  So anyway...here you are on this damn bus on the way to Grant Heights...and you know that Watanabe, the school bus driver, is not going to let you off the bus...because he knows that if one of the precious little American brats gets a scratch or for some reason does not get transported to the high school, it will be his ass and his job...so you ride it out and when you get to the high school, you take off to the snack bar, get some french fries and a cherry coke, while you wait for the regular route bus to take you off base to the bus stop closest to the train station which will take you to Shinjuku where you transfer to the line that will take you to Shibuya (your "hood"). This process just about blows away half a day, so you better get busy at the pachinko parlor.

When I arrived in Japan in 1957, there was a dependent kid by the name of Edward J. Christensen who was operating a radio station on Washington Heights.  He operated out of his house with the call sign KINX-Radio.  I don't remember the kilocycles he used, but this was for-real broadcasting...of course, it was illegal.  He only operated at certain times of the evening and on weekends...the kids knew and would tune in to listen (it was AM radio, of course, because FM was yet to become general use for the masses).  The authorities got wind of what he was doing and shut him down eventually.  He was in seventh grade when I was in eighth, and I believe his family rotated back to the states the next year (school year 1958).  I would bet that your friend (Ed. note: Bill McCain) knew this kid, because he was receiving lots of those promotional production 45's from all the different record labels.

The only Goto I remember was Victor.  His brothers must have all been younger.  If Steve was at NHS in '67, we were both long gone.  I did have lots of Nisei friends with Japanese names...I wonder what happened to Aki Yamada?(Ed. note: here is Aki in a favorite pose, after takusan biiru. Click on pic to see larger size .. of the picture, that is.)
 

If I receive any flashes from my memory banks I will be sure to pass them on to you.. we really never committed any felonies...at least I don't remember any .. uh-oh, just had one...were you with us the night we decided we would ....?? (Ed. note: remainder of this incriminating message deleted to protect the guilty.)

Motorcycles & the OSI

My brother, Tom, and I lived in Japan from 1957 to 1961.  First in the village of Kunitachi, then Pershing Heights and finally, Washington Heights.  I went to 6th grade at Green Park, 7th & 8th grades at Yoyogi and 9th grade at Narimasu.  Tom is four years older than I and he spent all four years at Narimasu, graduating in 1961.  He was a member of the "Kooks," which included Mike Peak, George Knox, Tom McLean and Bob Kuhel.  They were all NHS jocks of basketball, football and track.  Being younger than you or Tom didn't stop me from savoring the juices of minor crime and major fun in Tokyo .. I always got caught and Tom never did.

One summer day, a friend and I rented Honda motorcycles from the "Drake Shop" and rode all the way to Tachikawa and a local bar.  As part of a pre-arranged rendezvous (we had done the same thing the weekend before) we met up with two girls from Tachi (we were all 9th graders).  One of the girls had my same last name but not a relative .. Peggy McLean.  Well, as often was the case, we had been scoped out by the OSI the previous weekend (young OSI airmen in street clothes), and they were there ready for us.  We were all arrested and carted off to the AP Station, where we had mug shots taken and were interrogated, with attempts to make us "rat" on other dependents, and our parents were called.  Major, major trouble.  We had to leave the cycles with the AP's and go with our fathers in rented three-wheelers from the cycle shop to retrieve the bikes and deliver them back to the Drake Shop.  Major, major trouble.

I fondly remember the ACB club, Mano's, Hamburger Heaven, etc. where we swilled  sloe gin fizzes[Ed. note: Yeah! That was the drink! So sweet it was an instant barf-o-rama!], acted tough and played with the bar girls.

Your photos bring back many, many memories about the Teen Club and all the action outside the TC.  I hung around with Ralph Goto...Victor's younger brother.  I bought from Victor the guitar he is holding in your picture of him; still have it today, along with the guitar case and cheap & cheesy amplifier I bought at Wash Heights BX.  Still remember the footlong chilidogs and $.50 Steak Night at the "O" Club.  One of my dreams was to buy a 50cc Honda Cub which sold new in the BX for $89.  Great web site, I just love it!

Jim McLean
Freshman at NHS '60-61

The Class of '70 .. just as wild, just as unrepentant ..

The Motorcycle-Benjo Meeting

I had a bike too. One of those Kawasaki 500 models, and my parents didn't even know it.  I'd pass them to and from Tachi. My mom might have known .. she said, "I thought I saw you on a cycle today, but since you don't have one it much have been someone that looked like you."

Unfortunately, one night I was run off the road by a Japanese cab driver and ended up in a benjo ditch....yuk! As I was trying to get the bike started in a field just off Grant Heights a Japanese Security guard for the AP's lent me his flashlight to get it started and then called the AP's. Major trouble!!!!!

When called at 2:00 AM, my dad asked them if I could spend the night in jail and he'd pick me up in the morning, they said no.  It was really quiet on the ride home from Grant Heights to Momote Village. The next morning, he restricted me the remainder of the time while in Japan, but let me off two weeks later. I even got to get my driver's license and keep the bike.

We were rebels as well....in fact, we were so bad that ol' man Marshall [visiting gaijins: our principal] had enough and retired 3/4 way through the school year and went to go hide out in Hawaii somwhere.

[Ed. note - Breaking News! (well, as breaking as news can be 30 years later!) the real reason is finally revealed: R.H.I.P.*] We also staged a sit-in at school because Mr. Marshall  wanted to kick this kid out because he wouldn't get a haircut, so about 30 of us staged a sit-in in the rotonda. So, he expelled all of us. Unfortunately, one of us was the base commander's son and shortly after that ... Mr. Marshall was retired.

More Class of '70 .. with a Major Scam! 

The Tachi Mail Order Scheme

Was there a mail order exchange at Tachi when you were there? Well.....in 1971 they finally hired a bunch of us dependents to work in the shipping and mail order department. That was their downfall.

Come to find out everyone was involved in the scamming except the Japanese workers and the exchange folks.  The guys in the loading department, who loaded the big stereo gear onto a truck, would rip off the mailing labels and attach their own mailing labels with U.S. stateside addresses to them.

We, who worked as runners in the mail order department, would get blank labels, take the paid stamp and stamp out about a dozen labels and put everything down from Rolexes to Nikon Cameras and, with a fake order in hand, fill it out ourselves, take it to the pickup window and hand it to someone else .. of course you had to have something on there for the security guard who was in the next cage watching you. What a scam!!!! My parents always wondered how I got all that nifty Canon camera equipment and Sansui Stereo system and huge Coral speakers. In fact, I still have the stereo, it still plays in the garage while I'm working on something.

As for the cameras.......I have long since traded them in for newer models, but I still take pictures. Started at 15, my dad turned me onto the craft; he worked for the 500th M.I. at South Camp Drake.  [Ed. note: M.I. = Military Intelligence .. see first letter also .. these Intelligence brats were real hell raisers! Kinda like the preachers' kids??] He gave me a camera to get me off base and away from the other hoods. What he didn't know is that the other fathers gave their sons cameras and we were able to drink and take pictures throughout Japan. They probably knew what they were doing. I was there from 67 to 72 during my 15 to 20 year old days. Loved it! Shinkjku was my hangout as well as Pacific Stars & Stripes in Roppongi.

Went back to Japan with my wife who was also a spook in the Navy and we ended up being stationed in Misawa from 84 to 87. Saw a different part of Japan than the westernized Tokyo of yesteryears. Here we were in the middle of rice fields, but the Japanese were keeping their traditions alive in religious events, festivals and they lived in multi- generation style houses. Loved it...spent many hours at Lake Towada National park and surrounding areas of Tohoku taking pictures of festivals and events.

Thanks for the memories. I have plenty of stories to tell. Yes, I knew the Goto brothers, Steve and Dave. They live in Hawaii. I managed to climb Mt. Fuji six times!!!! That’s what happens when you're an old timer and one of your new friends wants you to take them to climb Fuji. What a trip.

Photographer in Washington, NHS '70

What's a D.R. ?? What the Apes loved filling out on us .. a Delinquency Report. 

To the Ape who "loved giving DRs to officers' kids," here's a little payback that will go on & on & on ..!