3. Our Stay at the Okinawa Hilton
We moved into the Okinawa Hilton in June of 1979. At first our world had opened up tremendously. There was a nightclub, a little cafe, a video gameroom, a restaurant, a pool, a mountainside garden and everything. We were three kids – me 16, my brother 14, and my sister 9. We set out exploring and meeting these wonderful people that ran the place. There were rarely any Americans around, let alone kids, so all we really had was each other for companionship. That got boring really fast.
We met the guys that tended the pool, and the waitresses in the cafe, and the people at the front desk. They were all very friendly to us and tought us little Japanese phrases and made certain we were comfy. The hilton was our new home and as isolated as it was we made the most of it. We made many trips up the mountain exploring in the garden. We figured out very quickly that there were many graves cut into the side of the hill. Every once in a while we would run across incense, or a bowl of food at the door to the graves. There was one grave that actually was not sealed, yet, we never even considered shimmying through the open doorway mostly because we were scared of what we might find in there. The Hilton personnel explained to us the importance of respect in the garden and we never breached their trust.
At the top of the hill one could see both sides of the island. The pacific in the west and the China Sea in the east. We could see three bases from up there, Awase Housing, Fort Buckner (as it was called at the time) and Kadena air base. There was a water tower up there, although I do not remember us ever climbing to the top.
We ate breakfast almost every morning at the cafe in the Hilton. The waitresses were very friendly to the three of us as well as to our parents. We even ate some Japanese breakfasts. We were a very curious bunch of kids. On occaision one or two of the waitresses would even sit with us, always at a seperate table. They were very aware of their role as hotel employees and it showed. We learned a lot about respect in the culture just by watching the hotel employees. The employees at the hotel always paid extra attention to the three of us, especially when our parents weren’t around. We learned to bow at the Hilton as a show of respect. We noticed that they always bowed to us so we bowed back. It’s kind of like shaking hands here in the US but bowing means so much more. The depth of the bow signifies ones position on the social ladder. The hotel folks taught us to bow less than they did to us.
Television on Okinawa for american kids was far less than what we had been accustomed to in the States. There was exactly one english station, AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Television Service). Afternoons we found ourselves watching, believe it or not, Crusader Rabbit. A 1949 cartoon that I personally fell in love with. I watched every episode over and over. I even learned to emulate the Crusader Rabbit saunter. You can find a link to a crusader rabbit short on my Okinawa website. HERE
Our stay at the hilton immersed us and provided a buffered transition into the life we would experience over the next five years. I carried lessons learned and a deep respect for the Okinawan people from that hotel into the world. We moved out of the Hilton in August of 1979 and into a house in Urasoe City. The day we moved out was sad indeed. The waitresses in the cafe gave us a gift, and the bell boys gave us a card. Most of the hotel staff was at the front door seeing us off into the land of Okinawa. I think we all cherish the time we spent there and know that we so enjoyed the stay.
The Okinawa Hilton hotel, originally built as the Sheraton, is a beautiful place. The houses around it were built by Shell Oil Co. for their employees working on Okinawa. Los Angeles based AFRTS was our only TV station, and they also had one AM and one FM radio station as well. Military personnel from all four branches of service worked at the station, located on Rycom Plaza housing area. Television programs had to be approved by the Commanding General of the island, a USMC General. Programming was screened for compatibility with family viewing in mind. No commercials were allowed, as the Government could not endorse product advertising. There were a lot of short five or ten minute filler programs to bring you to the bottom or top of an hour. Many will remember the ‘Stiller and Meara’ comedy shorts. Stephen Stiller and Anne Meara, (actor Ben Stiller’s parents) were very funny. The FM staion played older music, while “The good guys” at AM radio 648 played contemporary music. One feature they had the first time I lived there, ‘72-’73-’74, was a feature called ‘the song of the hour’. Listeners would call in and vote for a song they would like the station to play once every hour for the entire day. The song that won at least three or more times a week from the end of 1972 through almost all of 1973 was Brandy, by Looking Glass. Brandy was also the song of the year for 1972 in the U.S., so it’s popularity on Okinawa was no surprise either. I memorized every word of the song in short order, and it remains one of my favorites to this day. Weekends brought us America’s Top 40 with Casey Kasem, and for the Country music fans there was America’s Country Countdown with Bob Kingsley. The station also had a small trailer that they would tow around to different locations and do live broadcasts from, at such events as the annual Kadena Carnival, among others.
Comment by daveh5o — February 5, 2008 @ 12:34 pm
My grandfather actually built that hotel. If you can rember there was a house at the end of the coldasack that had a beautiful pond and garden that was his house. My grandmother lives there now I’m planning to go back there this summer.my grandpa passed away a few years ago but he rebuilt the island after the war he also constructed the air base he would like to have heard your good experiance there.
Comment by colbyd561 — April 29, 2010 @ 7:30 pm
Hello, colbyd561
I am doing some research for a friend. I lived on Okinawa from 1961 to 1982. I am trying to remember the last name of the man who owned the construction company that rebuilt most of Okinawa, including the Okinawa Hilton. He owned the beautiful house at the end of the cul-de-sac near the hotel. Your grandfather could be the man I’m looking for. Was his last name DeMauro or Diamaru or something similar? I would certainly appreciate any help you could give me in my search.
Comment by dd35jedi — May 6, 2010 @ 10:38 pm
As someone who worked at FEN-Okinawa — first as a work-study while at Kubasaki HS from 1974-1976, and a member of the station’s Explorer Post 190 — as an active duty Navy Journalist 3rd Class (JO3) from 1982-1984, allow me to clarify a few points.
FEN-Okinawa was originally an Army-run outlet from the days after the island was secured by US Forces in 1945 and signed-on as “Armed Forces Radio Station WXLH.” By March 1958, FEN-Okinawa operations were transferred to the local Air Force commander, making AFRT-Okinawa an independent station. In 1959, the remainder of Far East Network stations were administratively transferred from the Army to the Air Force, assigned to US Forces Japan (USFJ), with operational control delegated to 5th Air Force (5AF) headquarters at Yokota AB. In 1962, the 6120th Broadcasting Squadron was formed, and FEN was placed under its control.
With the reversion of Okinawa to Japan in May 1972, AFRT-Okinawa was transferred back to FEN control and once again became FEN Okinawa.
At one time FEN outlets spanned from Misawa AB in Hokkaido to Clark AB and NAVSTA Subic Bay, Philippines; and an short-lived FEN news gathering outfit at Hickam AFB, HI. By 1997, regional AFRTS networks such as FEN, SCN, AFCN, AFKN, SEB and AFN-Europe were disestablished, with all stations now under the American Forces Network (AFN) banner.
Programming at ALL AFRTS outlets was provided from the AFRTS Broadcast Center (AFRTS-BC), then located in North Hollywood (it would move in the late 1980s to Sun Valley, CA, then to its permanent home at March Air Reserve Base in Moreno Valley, CA in 1991). AFRTS is a DoD organization under the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (OASD-PA), and is the broadcast arm of the American Forces Information Service (AFIS). Programs and music broadcast AFRTS outlets overseas to US Forces and American diplomatic personnel are provided either gratis or at administrative fee cost (about a fraction of what commercial network pays) from major programming distributors, networks and syndicators for the sole entertainment of the military audience.
All programming is distributed from AFRTS, where commercials and sponsor mentions are removed (where practical) and command information (CI) spot announcements are inserted in the place of commercials. Without commercials, an average 1-hour network TV program usually runs 48 to 49 minutes in length. AFRTS inserts about 8 minutes of network CI spots in the show breaks, with the remainder left to be filled locally by the affiliate.
Local commanders have little or no say in the programming content provided, but are alerted by AFRTS-BC if local sensitivities may arise from the airing of certain program materials. Religious programming aired on AFRTS outlets is reviewed by a staff chaplain assigned to AFRTS and must meet guidelines set by the Armed Forces Chaplains Board.
Comment by jaywhy — July 13, 2010 @ 9:52 pm