Garrity's Japan

Finding My Way to Aomori

In 1957, I was stationed at a little known United States Air Force base in Chiba Prefecture. Shiroi Air Base was located near Matsudo City, about a 30-min- ute train ride from Ueno station in Tokyo.

In the summer of 1959, our base mission was completed and the base was closed. I was transferred to an Air Force base in northern Japan: Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture, close to the northern tip of Honshu Island. Prior to the Shiroi base closing, I had purchased an automobile–a 1951 Studebaker from a departing Air Force sergeant. I was granted permission to drive my automobile to Misawa; approximately 500 miles to the north.

A number of challenges were presented to me. First, there were no improved highways going to the north. Second, there were no road maps available in English. All maps were in Japanese, which I did not read. Third, my girlfriend, now my wife of 50+ years, could not accompany me due to family obligations; and fourth, I did not know where Misawa was located. All I knew was that it was within 15 miles of Hachinohe City, the largest city in that area.

But I had two things going for me: my youth and exuberance. On the day of departure, I loaded the car with my personal possessions and a number of five-gallon cans of gasoline and started my journey. I drove until dark, then pulled over to the side of the road and slept in the car. The next morning I deter- mined I had spent the night in the Nikko Koen area, and from there planned to drive straight to Sendai.

What I thought would be a short vacation drive turned into a survival exercise, as it appeared that major highway construction was underway. Coming from a base in California, where the U.S. Interstate Highway system was under construction, I was used to short road delays where part of the highway was closed to traffic while construction was taking place. Imagine my astonishment when I discovered that the highway flagmen were located on mountainsides some miles from each other. It was not unusual to wait several hours for the flagmen to wave the traffic on. Somehow, I passed through the cities of Koriyama and Fukushima. Finally, that evening, I reached Sendai where I found lodging at a small hotel near the train station, appropriately named the Sendai Inn.

The complete article can be found in Issue #276 of the Tokyo Journal. Click here to order from Amazon.