10. Okinawa Christmas 1979
Late november it starts to get really cold. I had to wear a jacket. Again, I’m seriously allergic to temperatures below about 75 or so. The nights were chilly by this time. We were really having a good time in this new land of wonder. We were making more frequent trips to Naha as well as to Koza. In Naha there was this huge video game arcade right behind the Mitsukoshi Department Store. There was this huge building with nothing but restaurants in the same area. We were eating Japanese food more and more frequently every week, and this building of restaurants was very useful.
In Koza, we were starting to visit the clubs and starting to have an actual drink from time to time. We were also still going to the skating rink and drinking either there or around the corner at the seawall. We were getting in our first “real” tastes of alcohol by this time in the Okinawa Experience.
Mom and Dad decided to go to this Christmas party at a friends house and was leaving the three of us alone at the house for the evening. The customary – no visitors, don’t leave the house – orders were given. Somehow Mike talked Dad into giving us permission to mix up some screwdrivers (We had all learned to mix vodka and orange juice over the years) so we were ready for some cool beverages. Mom and Dad leave and Mike starts mixing. The first few were rather light, but, as the evening wore on they were getting stronger and stronger. Then, one shot orange juice and fill the rest of the glass with Vodka. Mike got lit beyond lit. I really don’t remember much, but, I do remember Dad being pretty upset that we nearly polished off the bottle. I think that Dad figured out that night that we would follow in his footsteps on the road to alcoholism. We were all three pretty drunk, but, Mike was three sheets in the wind. I personally believe that Cheryl and I were the recipients of Dad’s heavyweight drinking genes while Mike was really a lightweight with Mom’s 2 drinks and she’s out genes.
As christmas got closer, even the okinawans got into the spirit. Probably due to the years of having to deal with americans living on their island. Our okinawan friends gave us christmas cards and small gifts, and we gave the same items to them. We were told right up front and early on that we would not be allowed to invite any friends over for christmas – family only. I think that 1979 was our last family only christmas. In following years we just left after the festivities, if they wouldn’t let our friends come over, we went over to friends’ places.
Christmas 1979 we all had a good time together as a family. The presents were grand. Two pachinko machines (Pachinko was a very popular form of gambling for the okinawan community) and some other odds and ends. Listening to christmas music meant far less than before, the scenery of the island as well as the weather were not particularly reminiscent of any christmas we ever had before.
Around this time, also, I was taking night school. It was mandatory that all dependents take a driver’s safety and training course to get the “on base only” drivers license. We watched these stupid 60is films about car wrecks and drinking and driving (they did not teach abstainence). We practiced driving in a plywood box shaped like a car seat with a silly road film that was probably developed in the late 50s. Our practice pods had push button transmissions, like we would ever see one of those in a Japanese car. When we finally got to get behind the wheel, passing the driving test was easy. I got the cherished “on base only” license and the “real” fun was about to begin. I owe my dad a really big “thank you” for sacrificing and taking me to the class day after day while he hit the “o” club (Officers Club) for a drink or three (really good example he was, but, in those days the laws were not even close to what they are today about drinking and driving).
Mom started taking classes at the Kadena USO during this time also, and, we liked to go with them. I know, I know, why would teenage sons want to go with their parents to classes at the USO? Well, let me tell you that when a kid can stand at the front door of the USO and see the bright lights of Gate 2 Street and feel the call of the wild; riding with mom and dad to the USO was a means to an end. While mom was in class and dad was either at the “O” club or the snack bar we were on Gate 2 Street participating in some really wild times that we still remember some 25 years later.
After Christmas was over we spent New Years at the Maki Youth Center for one of those all kids sleep overs. We shouldn’t have been, but we were drinking a little that night too. I think we all had a good time, and just so you know, Las Vegas was not the first place to use the what happens here, stays here slogan. None of the chaperons ever told on any of us that participated in the drinking, they had to know.
1980 was dawning and many, many things would start to happen. 1980 was full of growing pains – more on that later.
Just to set the record straight. The night of the screwdrivers was the first time I ever got drunk. And to this day, I don’t like the smell of rubbing alcohol and don’t like cheap vodka (I do however appreciate Grey Goose). What happened was that we only had a little bit of orange juice. I think it was cans. After three screwdrivers, I was out. But I didn’t want to stop drinking. I was having way too much fun. So an epiphany went off in my head. When my glass was half-empty, I would simply refill the glass with vodka. Like magic, I had a full drink. And I did that for a few more drinks until I…well it wasn’t pretty was it. Dad would later joke that the glass I was drinking when he came home was vodka with a splash of orange juice for color. Oh, those were the days.
I did learn one thing that night. Not to trust the guys you were hanging out with. They were just party boys with no desire to do anything but that. I tended to pick friends that had my back. It was clear that they didn’t (or anyone else’s for that matter).
As far as going to Koza, I think we first went to the clubs the following summer. I remember my first time going to Sgt. Peppers., buying a shirt to wear to school. You and I trying to look cool. Didn’t we first go with Chieko and Kyomi? I think we met them there. We sat in the middle of the room right behind the TV that they would bring out to play the videos on.
Anyway, thanks for the memories. It is amazing that we remember such different things. It clears up a lot of holes that I have forgotten over the years.
Talk to you soon.
Michael
Comment by kmichael — February 7, 2008 @ 2:07 am
Ha, Ha, Ha. I knew that you would eventually take offense and jump in to clear your good name. And, yes the first trips to Koza were with Kyomi and Chieko for shopping and the first time in SGT Peppers was that winter. The following summer (‘80) was the Kinser 10K, Summer Hire at the Maki Pool, Mike TJ Tony & Aaron moving in, and the first time you prayed to the porcelain god at the Kadena USO (Late) by then we were immersed in that life (I got the pictures to prove it). Anyway, if you see more that needs to be cleared up, just jump in and do it.
One more item to help jog your “time frame memory”. Do you remember why we did the kinser 10K in the spring of 1980? Think back, wait for it, wait for it, something to do with a bus stop and havin’ to call the old man and me gettin’ grounded for a while? You’ll remember when I tell the story, ’til then. Guess I shoulda been paying attention to just who had my back, eh?
The following Autumn there was another incident at that very same bus stop in which I looked like the “good guy”.
Comment by admin — February 7, 2008 @ 8:05 am
Hmm, I have forgotten the bus stop stories. Obviously I didn’t get caught doing anything. Fill me in buttercup.
Some of your times are off though. The first summer we were there, we worked at the furniture warehouse on Camp Kinser. I remember saving basically every penny working there to buy my stereo. I remember you bought the boss’s Charger. And one of the albums we listened to relentlessly was the newly released Women and Children First, by Van Halen of course. I think you graduated the year you were a life guard. And that was the last year I worked over the summer. Between my JR & SR year, I went to visit Steve in San Antonio. I don’t remember what I did the between my Freshman and Sophmore year. Oh wait, we didn’t work that year. Instead we went and visited our grandparents. And got stuck in Hawaii. And I used your ID to buy those liquor leis. Remember how proud dad was that I convinced them to let me buy alcohol at 15. I still think that was funny.
As far as clubs go, I don’t think I spent much of my 8th grade going to the clubs of Koza. At the time, I was trying to be cool at the skating rink. Katy, Marion, Mona as well as other people were there every weekend and as I had the hots for Marion at the time, I wouldn’t miss that. (all the while telling everybody I hated disco while skating to Michael Jackson’s Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough…the irony of youth) Between skating, school dances and the Maki Youth Center and of course the parties in the cave beneath our house, I am confident that we didn’t spend much time in Koza. I will stick with my memories of going there for the first time during the summer. You are welcome however to prove me wrong.
Tony & Aaron moved in the same year we did. Tony was my first friend, I met him before starting the 8th grade and he and I rode the bus to Maki Middle school together. I often wonder what ever happened to Tony and Aaron. Tony was a great guy. We just kind of drifted away when he moved on base.
Anyway, I will keep commenting. Keeping my name clean blah blah blah
Talk to you later.
Comment by kmichael — March 8, 2008 @ 1:38 am
No. The times are accurate. I bought the Charger from Mr. Izumigawa the boss of housing supply Kinser the Summer before my Senior Year (At the end of the summer hire stint). Prior to that summer I drove the blue corona and the white van from time to time. Me, Dad, and Lonzo got drunk and laid that Green paint on it that autumn in the kadena paint booths (No respirators? can you imagine?). I drove it to school after November my senior year and it did not pass inspection in Febuary, that is when I ended up getting another car – The Skyline. Dad could not (more likely did not want to) afford to pay for the necessary repairs to the car to pass inspection (The Skyline was the less expensive option). Mopar parts were pretty expensive at the time and import duties weren’t cheap either as I recall. The visit to the Grandparents was 1980 Summer. I got the postmark to prove it on a Hawaii postcard we sent to dad cuz we scared the hell out of him when we called at 3AM from Hawaii cuz you were being an @sshole. (Remembering Yet?)
Yeah, the old dude that beat the drum! I forgot about that. I think that was the dude that lived in the house where all the chanting came from just past the little store (they weren’t outside very often).
Now, I’m getting back to my sites. I’ll be posting more soon! If you wanna continue arguing the time frames I might just have to start sending you my check stubs and postmarks and stuff (Yeah, I still got ‘em)
Comment by admin — May 21, 2008 @ 10:27 am
Hold on. Wait a second here. Back up the truck, please. Charger? John, you have been holding out on me. I am a serious classic car guy (nut), and I need to know about these things. What year, engine size, colors, etc? You should have repaired it, as Americans do not have to pay import duties on car parts in Japan. You can have them sent to you directly from the U.S. In the late spring of 1980, I looked at a ‘71 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for sale on Kadena near my residence. It was gold with a tan colored interior, 350 four barrel engine, bucket seats and console with floor shift, cold A/C, etc. Beautiful car. An Air Force Tech. Sgt. owned it. His wife had just had their third child, so he purchased a larger car, a blue ‘75 Impala sedan from the used POV lot on the base. This Monte Carlo was priced at just five hundred dollars for a quick sale. The owner mentioned that I was the second person to look at the car. The man that looked at it the day before apparently wanted it, but had not called the owner back yet. He told me this before I took off with the car. I drove the car all over Kadena, and it drove like new. The smart thing for me (with my sixteen year old brain) to do WOULD have been to stop at the bank while I had the car in my posession, and withdraw the funds to purchase it, because I just HAD to buy this car. I returned the car to the owner’s house, telling him I would be back in half an hour with the money. During that short time, the man who had been looking at the car the day before came back with cash and bought it. I deeply mourned the loss of that car for months.
Comment by daveh5o — April 21, 2009 @ 2:38 pm
Yeah, dave. Charger. I had one. 1972 year model, green with a white vinyl top. 318 motor with a 2bbl carb. Ran very well, rode great on the okinawan roads. Huge friggin’ thing by the Okinawa standard. I loved that car! The rust is actually what doomed it. There was far too much rust on the body panels to pass inspection. Anyway, I traded up to a Skyline (Ken and Mary) GTR clone without the DOHC and almost as fast. The skyline was actually faster than the charger. You know what I missed about the Charger? Cruising up a road meant for a horse drawn carrige in a car twice the size of the regular cars on the road. I also missed the sheer intimidation one was able to bestow on the car in front of one when one felt so inclined. (That charger sure could completely fill a rearview mirror!)
I really was, at that time, into the Japanese sports cars (still am). Sad you weren’t able to net the car of YOUR dreams over there. That charger would have never fit my lifestyle over there with all of the racing we were doing and the complete inability to get parts unless they were mail ordered. I do wish I would have kept it though, just to haul the ladies around with. I ended up getting a Nissan Cedric for that!
At the height of my Kurama prowess on Okinawa, I owned a Skyline (74), a Kawasaki GPZ-750 (83), and a Nissan Cedric (79). I owned all of those from 83 to 85.
Comment by admin — May 4, 2009 @ 4:08 pm