In our wanderings we came across the rail line and Yokohama Station. The interurban train was fast! Where a road crossed the tracks a horn would sound when a train was about to go through. Nobody attempted to  run or drive over the rails when they heard this sound. Two gates came crashing down and the train whistled through going like 200 miles and hour(at least that’s what it felt like.)

The station itself was something to behold. We observed it in rush hour. You know those videos of guys pushing passengers into the cars? Along the waiting area were ranged young men in uniforms and white gloves. When the train stopped and a few people got off (most of the huge crowd waiting was going to Tokyo) the people started getting on. This was what the uniformed guys were waiting for. When  the train whistled it’s intention to leave the men with the white gloves started pushing the last folks on board. There was no pandemonium the people being pushed had stoic looks and endured the pushing. The train couldn’t go until the doors completely closed so there were a few moments when the attendants got together and finished off their chores, pushing and squeezing the last of the travelers so the doors could close.

We were planning on going to Tokyo but not that day. Not that day…

-To be continued…

Wandering…

The ship was unloading quickly so Ron and I spent as much time as we could in Yokohama. One day Ron spotted a guitar store and couldn’t resist going in…

Wrote this sometime 20 years later. Ron was 17. Hadn’t yet turned 18. Although there were tons of ships in the harbour and lots of seamen going downtown the sight of European faces still attracted attention. There were almost no foreigners in Japan at the time and our presence always drew attention. People would just stop and stare!. We were unique and felt it.

to be continued…

OK, this is my 2022 memory. It’s not complete but, I promise you, these are the best parts.

Ron and I got pretty drunk that night. We ended up with two girls who would take us home. As soon as we got to their apartment they wanted to go to bed. We said OK!!

They put on some long thick gowns, took us into the bedroom and laid us down. I was too drunk to take advantage of the situation (I’m not sure about Ron but I doubt he felt any different). Close to dawn I woke up, reached over to grab the girl. She wacked my hand and that was that.

After a quick breakfast we grabbed a taxi back to the ship and since this was Sunday spent the rest of the day in bed.

The work days were shortened. (There was really nothing to do until the ship was unloaded). Ron and I would head downtown, eat a dinner, then wander the streets just looking around. (ogling, I would say today) 

One time we wandered with another shipmate and  were invited into a bar by a Japanese guy who wanted to buy us drinks. After I while we figured out he was gay and wanted to have some kind of orgy with the three of us! He could only speak a kind of pidgin English so we made plans right in front of him. First Ron would say he was going to the can. then he would wait outside while I did the same thing. We decided to get away from there, leaving the shipmate to fend off the guy. We found a bar, sat at the window and just managed to see our friend run by followed by the Japanese guy a few minutes later. We couldn’t find our friend and he later told us that he too had hidden in a bar.

to be continued..

At dock we were free to go after our day’s work. Most importantly I was released from punishment detail and could join the crowd heading for town. After one pass through the dock gates to get our passports stamped all we had to do was wave our documents anytime thereafter.

This was boom times for Japan; the docks were so busy and crowded that security suffered. Anything and any body could be smuggled aboard and the Belnor took on a few new residents. Most of these women were the ‘girl in every port’ variety and were familiar with the ship and crew. Day or night I never knew who would be sharing the laundry or shower room with me. Heavy drinking was in style again and the ship was sinking into seediness.

Someone, before we left Canada, had told us that the ‘must go’ place in Yokohama was called China Town and the centre of activity was a western bar. That’s where we went the first night. Taxi drivers know where sailors want to go and their few words of English included all the bar names in this infamous location. The bar was built like a reverse wedding cake with tier after tier of circular balcony looking down on a central stage. Japanese bands dressed in western duds would play and sing cowboy songs in distorted English.

We settled in with a table full of Japanese beer and Whiskey as some of the old timers on the crew loosened their tongues and began to tell some horror stories about our clean and tidy ship. A history blacker than we could have ever imagined.

Yes, this was the bar. These are matches. Don’t ask me why I saved them. I don’t know!

—————————-To be continued———————————-