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Japan
I was Home ported in Yokosuka Japan from May 1975 to April 1977 on an accompanied tour with my first wife Patty. We ended up living on the economy by the train station in Kinugasa for the first year until we got into Yokohama navy housing for the second year. The first floor in Kinugasa was a Pachinko Parlor. One time the water pumps were leaking on the stored pachino balls so the turned off the water to the building. The temporarily ran a auxiliary water system up the backside of the building with PVC. Don't remember for sure if we were on the 3rd or 4th floor.

The Yokohama train station had several floors of a large subterranean mall. In Japan it was Donald McDonald not Ronald MacDonald (Japanese have trouble with R's)	First wife Partty in the snow. It wouldn't snow a lot in the Kanto Plains but we did get snow at the Yokohama Navy Housing area (42-A was our 2 story part of the quad)
When Patty and I arrived at Yokoda Air force Base from Travis, we didn't know someone was there officially to pick us up. We bummed a ride with a guy John and his wife and stayed at their place on base. (He had no respect for the Japanese and called them slope heads, why I have no clue) The first day I was on base in Yokosuka I hit a quarter slot machine at the EM Club for around a hundred dollars. (I gave Patty a hundred dollar bill for emergencies before we left the states, she lost it some where within a week in Japan, hate to think how much cash she physically lost in 14 years) After two years I had given it all back and probably more without ever hitting another jackpot. The first time I was in a Japanese bar I asked for a beer and the bartender made like he had no idea what I was talking about. Biru versus beer in a bar and he couldn't make the connection? English is a mandatory choice for a second language in Japan. I think he was screwing with me. Most Japanese could speak English but would usually ignore you and act as the didn't. Typical of New York and other big city areas they pretty much ignored you if you tried to ask them for help and were intent on hustling along on their daily routines..


Besides driving on the wrong side of the road you were apt to see traditional Kimonos as well as western style business suits
Lived at Johns one night then Navy Lodge Kinugasa train station above Pachinko Parlor Walters apartment (left possessions there when we went stateside for a month or so) Navy Lodge, woke up and thrown out first night by PCS orders) Ketts apartment near golf course Yokohama Housing 1 yr?

Entrance to our Yokohama housing 42-A	The Honcho 2014? (Not my picture, from Yokosuka Facebook group)
The Honcho is a small street outside the main gate of Yokosuka Naval Base which was a popular drinking area for sailors. My friend and drinking buddy Leo Montoya used to hang out in a tight corner at the end of the street at the China Coaster with the bartender Dick. Dick's Japanese wife owned the bar. (Dick was an American and only Japanese can own property in Japan) Leo used to sign his paycheck over to the bar to pay on his bar tab. The other end of the Honcho was anchored by Club Alliance which is now long gone. On Christmas Eve 1976 I stood a pier watch, an after missile house watch and a quarter deck watch. Then I was sent on Shore Patrol. A partner and I walked the Honcho in the frigid weather. You can not go into and establishment unless invited in by management for a problem. At one point they relieved my partner and gave me a walkie talkie in case I had any problems. To make things better it started snowing. When I finally got to turn in the walkie talkie and go back to the ship I got bitched at for not turning it off. I had been on when the gave it to me. There had been no doubt in my non-military mind I was getting out in 5 months, that day just set it in concrete. I was discharged from Treasure Island in May of 1977. When I got back to the states in April I had no job, no car and no place to live, having been out of the states for two years. I didn't care I wanted out.

The main Gate at Yokusuka (Not my picture, from Yokosuka Facebook group)	Kinugasa apartment building (4 story darker gray right of center) Goggle 2015
I used to have hassles getting out the main gate now and then. Once a Marine told me I couldn't go off base because my jeans had frayed cuffs. I went to the EM Club and used a stapler to turn my pant legs in and staple a new hem. Another time my wife Patty and I started singing Joplin's "Mercedes Benz" because I bet her the Marines would screw with us. They did and we spent some time inside. They got pissed when I leaned on their brass rail. The wife got away with telling them off. I couldn't I was government property. Another time I had my shirt tail out and it wasn't square cut. They made me tuck it in and got irritated when I unzipped and undid my pants to do it. Funny thing was I lived in Kinugasa on the economy and when I got home I could run around anyway I wanted. The Japanese neighbors would come to our apartment to complain the music was too loud or go down to the street and get a sake in their underwear. (They had sake, beer and cigarette vending machines on the street.)

Kinugasa railroad station Goggle 2015
The railroad line was not the Japanese National Railroad (JNR) but rather it was private line also the Chuo station near the main gate. The Kanji for Kinugasa we memorized because the bus which also could be acquired near the main gate only had the Kanji on the front. I remember buying a rocking chair and bringing home on the bus. Noriko owned the apartment as well as a Yakatori restaurant. I believe we were on the third floor. Our one neighbor was Wayne, Carol and Benji Woods. He was station on the USS Parsons. We ran into Carol a few times after I got out. Wayne had died and I don't remember what happened to their son. Carol stole Patty's bicycle and disappeared while we were living back in Vallejo. We gave the apartment up while we went back to Vallejo for a two week Navy School and a month's leave while the Worden was in a 10 month yard period in Yokosuka. We stayed at a shipmates apartment before going stateside (Waters) and another's when we returned (DS3 Keott). Eventually after about a years wait we got into Navy housing in Yokohama.
The following pictures were taken by Edgar J Law in the mid 1970s

The road to Kinugasa where we first lived on the economy

My drinking buddy Leo's hang out. Dick was and ex Marine (Butch was his Japanese wife)	Part of the Honcho

Part of the Honcho at night
	Tam Popo was on the Honcho and specialized in blow jobs. I never got there and only knew about it by reputation. Japanese style toilet
I rarely hung out on the Honcho since my wife Patty was with me in Japan. Mostly hostess clubs and souvenir shops. The Hawaiian Club was one Americans weren't allowed in. I went to one of the Hawaiian Clubs in Matsuyama when the Worden pulled in there. First American warship since WWII and they treated us well. One bartender kept giving me free shots of Cutty Sark. I repaid their hospitality by getting sick out the window of the train on the way back to the ship. I remember on time I was on the Honcho and approached by shore patrol. I was in civvies and kept speaking the limited German I knew and refused to acknowledge I understood English. They went away and left me alone. The thing I didn't like about standing shore patrol on the Honcho was that you were not allowed to go into an establishment unless invited in by management for a problem. Yokusuka and Bandar Abbas Iran were they only places I ever had to stand shore patrol. I never got it in the better ports such as Hong Kong or Subic.

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