Adjacent to the U.S. Naval installation is the memorial ship, Mikasa. In front of the ship is this statue of Admiral Togo. Yokosuka has always been a major player in Japanese naval operations, giving the town a rich, if young, history.
The base housing in Nagai was built on an old kamikaze airfield which is why the scene below shows uncharacteristically wide open grassy areas. The paved streets were the old runways.
Inside a base home - the elegant austere Japanese sensibility influenced many of the American wives living on base. This shot is of my mom's first arrangement for an ikebana class she took.
Filipino furniture (such as the papasan below) infiltrated base housing decor. For siblings, the papasan could be used for a death match (seen here), a serene enclosed place to listen to records with the earphones, or, when inverted, as a prison cell for the younger brother. In short, there was no shortage of usages for the papasan.
Lovely home in the rural setting of Nagai next to a daikon patch.
The USS Midway
The Tip of the Sword: A Brief History of the USS Midway
Gator Control: The VA-115
Aircraft of the USS Midway
Galleries
On the Deck and In the Air, 1974-77
Pollywog to Shellback: Crossing the Line, 1975
Japan: A Forward-based Homefront
Home: Yokosuka and Nagai
Japan: Kamakura, Fuji and Izu areas
Ports of Call
Subic Bay
Karachi
Pusan
Hong Kong
Singapore
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37 comments:
My family and I lived at Nagai Heights '79-'81. Please visit the website attached. http://yokosuka.ning.com/
CV-41 '88-'91
Thanks for the nostalgia:)
I not only live in Zushi now but I lived down the hill from Nagai Heights from roughly 81-87 then moved to Zushi from 90-95 and here I am again! My Dad was a corpsman at USNH both times we lived in Japan and our favorite times were living in Nagai!
www.ramenforbreakfast.blogspot.com
When I was a child, my family and I lived in Nagai Heights in the early 1970's. The view of Mt. Fuji from Nagai was beautiful. Thanks so much for posting these pictures. Brings back a lot of wonderful memories of the housing area and the surrounding Japanese community.
My ex-husband was stationed on the USS Blueridge from '83 to '86. We lived for a very short time in Nagai before moving to the base in Yokosuka. Some of my most fondest memories are walking down to the seaport village to purchase vegetables and fish. Thank you so much for the wonderful photos and the excellent memories. ~ Lynn
I had a job at the fenced radar antenna facility right next to Nagai Heights when I worked for US Navy Yokosuka in 1986. That was shortly after the heights was returned to the city. I ventured into the ghost town over the fence anyway during break. I saw farewell handwritings, dated 1985, on a blackboard in the elementary school classroom. I also found a number of Armed Forces Hymnal book left in a bookshelf at the chapel. Actually I took one copy home and still have it to this day. Back then I was a Japanese civilian. Now I am a naturalized US citizen. It’s pretty bizarre to imagine that there was a real American community existed in that small area before and now it’s all gone like nothing.
Lived in Nagai Heights and attended Sullivan's elementary, 1975-1978, anybody else from that time frame? This site has a great presentation of Nagai Heights as well: http://www.photoclip.net/travel/hotels/blog/2007/11/03/honmoku-yokohama-1982-nagai-heights-1985/
I was in Nagai Heights 73-76, dad was with the Midway. We had lived by the fishermans beach and then moved up to the hill. I remember seeing Jaws and running some of the movies at the community center. My brother cut lots of lawns up there.
My eldest boy is graduating Navy bootcamp this weekend , I hope he'll see parts of the world I did.
Moshi moshi! Our dad was a doctor at the Navy Hospital on the Yokosuka Navy base from 1965-1968. We lived in Hayama from 65-66, then moved on-base 66-68. I went to Nagai Heights Elementary, Nagai Heights 1965-1966 (4th grade), then to Sullivan Elementary, Yokosuka 1966-1968 (5th & 6th grades). Good times!
OMG I lived in Nagai for about 5 years and loved it from 1977 to 82. I am looking for other people that lived in Nagai. My email address is sweetboob2@yahoo.com
Jenni -- I lived on Nagai during the same time as you, I lived in Negishi in 1973, then we moved to Nagai in 74. I would have been in the 5th, 6th and 7th grade. Wonder if we knew each other?
I lived in Nagai Heights in 1969. I attended kindergarten there and remember the lovely views of Mt. Fuji as I walked to school. I never knew it was an old kamikaze airfield!
My wife and I lived in Nagai for about a year in 80-81 when we were first married. I was stationed at SRF at the time, but was on the USS Gurke, USS Francis Hammond, and USS White Plains before that. Boy, did we love it there. The view of Mt. Fuji was awesome, especially in the winter. During the summer there were BBQ's almost every weekend. We really miss our great times there. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Lynn, whose husband was aboard the USS Blueridge, I'm pretty sure I knew you while living in Yokosuka in the '80's...if you happen to come to this site again, you should be able to contact me through this message board! Hope to hear from you soon!
We lived in Nagai Heights from 60-64, Chris, sister Judy. Dad was stationed at Camp McGill. Some friends, Susan, Claire, Gaye, Fred.
My family lived in Nagai from '77-'79. My father was on the USS Midway. I was on the swim team in Girl Scouts in Yokosuka. I also spent a summer at Camp Tama. I also saw movies and attended festivals at the Community Center. I also bagged groceries and the mini store on Nagai. Would love to see if we were there together. Email: kscherm003@comcast.net
I went to Sullivan elementary school too, from 79-82. This is the first time in many years, that I have ment anyone else from there.
Wow, fun memories. My Dad was the CO of the Marine Detachment on the Oklahoma City 1970-1972. We lived at 101 Nagai Heights and I attended Sullivans Middle School. My sister went to YoHi. Did anyone else steal watermelons and eat them at the Nagai Heights swimming pool. Anyone else make club houses in the caves above the beach? Buy beer on the beach? :-) Jerry C.
In your 8th photo there is a girl and a boy playing ball. Directly behind the boy's head in the distance is a house that was owned (yes, owned) by the Mays family. Directly in front of the boy's head in the distance is a structure that was part of the picnic ground. The house to the left of that was 101 Nagai Heights where I lived. Behind it is the radar station. On the left side of where I lived is a house that was owned by the Haynes family. Both Mr. Mays and Mr. "Blackie" Haynes were non-military government employees. Fun stuff! Jerry C.
That girl in the 8th photo is a boy. That's my brother and me.
Thanks for the details, Jerry C.
Incidentally, it must be a small world from Yokosuka to Oklahoma City. In the late 80s and early 90s, I used to take care of the USS Oklahoma City silver when it was displayed at the State Museum of Oklahoma. I wonder if your father ever drank from the punch bowl...
Just sent my Dad a message asking if he drank from the punch bowl. Although it sounds a bit like sipping Kool-aid at Jonestown. :-) Did you ever visit the lamest PX (BX?) in the world at the end of the old runway in Nagai Heights? Do any of the following names ring a bell: Chris and Vince Herta; Brenda, Gary, George Haynes; the family Fettter; George Ellis, Artie Lucas. Thanks for initiating this effort! BTW, I visited Nagai Heights in 2010. It is now some sort of vacation destination / spa. Although, there are homeless people living in tents down on the beach. Jerry C.
None of those names ring a bell. We were in Yokosuka from '74 to '77. Also, I just realized the ship your father was on must have been a cruiser and not the sub where the punch bowl came from - the latter wasn't commissioned till 1988. The world just got a little bigger.
Holy Cow! I just found this site, I know some of the comments are from 2008 but what a time machine! I lived in Nagai from 1968-71 and went to Sullivans School. We lived in the last single family home on the left as you approached the radar station/small PX/end of the runway. THe dirt road down to the beach ran just in front of our house. My dad was at Marine Barracks and worked in the same office as Artie Lucas' dad-I think they retired to North Carolina. I remember camping in our front yard with Mark Fetter, Mike Musselwhite and Tommy Jackson, and my little dog, Dixie. We also lived in that pool during the Summer: what a great place to be an 11 or 12 year old kid!
Hey I was at sullivans middle school 68-70 we lived off base the first year In Akiya beach then moved the next year to can't remember but it was a newer concrete house at the base of the Weathert station at the top of the hill. My Dad was the base Chaplin. I played on the Junior seahwks football team my brother went to YO-HI. I remember it well. Fun times there. PS I lived at the slotcar track
@Anonymous: I know the Haynes family quite well!
I lived in Nagai Heights from 1960 to 64. It was called Admiralty Heights, then changed to Nagai. Our house was the last house on the left of the airstrip looking south. The kamikazi airstrip is just a myth which was popular when we were there. I bothered to ask around and learned that it was simply an airstrip duing the war. The kamikazis were flown mostly from the southern island of Kyushu. Nagai was the best place I have ever lived. I attended Callaghan Elementry school, the Sullivans middle school. We had so many cool adventures. One of my favorite memories is of my brother, Lon and I walking along the docks in Yokosuka and finding a WWII Japanese midget sub on the flat deck of a navy ship which had been dredged up from the bottom of Pearl Harbor in 1960. The sailors let us climb all over the sub until I loosened a large plate of coral from the conning tower and we were told to leave. The beach at Nagai still appears in my dreams so many years after the fact. What a great place to be a kid.
Lived in Nagai from 1969 through 1972. Attended Sullivans Middle School, and then both sites of Yo-Hi, (Yokohama and Yokosuka). I lived in the house in front of the Mays home, and used to babysit a lot of kids that lived there. Names I remember are Ronnie Epps, Mike Musselwhite, Vivian Skiles, the Cheathams, the Wilkinsons, Cherie Heim, Janine Olsen, the Herda Boys, Ray Eubanks, Sherry and Lance Gailey, Rosanne Brixey. Stole gum from a local store, and got my butt spanked with an abacus by the proprietor. Such wonderful memories.
I lived in Nagai from 73 to 75, and lifeguarded at the pool there. We were always surprised at the watermelons that would show up in the swimming pool when we opened in the morning.
I lived in Nagai Heights from '78 - '84. I still remember our house number 414. Had the best childhood there. My mother worked in the small navy exchange type store there. Ah memories.
We lived in Nagai Heights 75-76 in a home overlooking the water and Mt. Fuji. Our son, Joe, was 7-8 and was in 2nd grade at the school on base in Yokosuka and in the cub scout troop at Nagai. Great memories of the area.
We lived in Nagai Heights 75-76 in a home overlooking the water and Mt. Fuji. Our son was in 2nd-3rd grade on base in Yokosuka and in cub scouts at Nagai. Now he is an international consultant and goes to Japan on business. Great memories.
I remember taking swim lessons and getting those round patches as we passed each level!! My brother and I got in so much trouble once for stealing watermelons and rolling them down that hill!! So many great memories!!
I remember taking swim lessons and earning those little round patches if we passed!! 😊
Rose Ann Brixey, sister to Barry, helped swipe the watermelons, and many wonderful memories, and some not so great. Remember the panic when the Pueblo was captured? I remember Kolene, Brenda, David Thompson, and many others as well. Hugs, and the warmest regards to all of you.
Does Jerry C. mean Mr. Chamberlain?
I am Blackie's son and lived in the 'owned' prefab house. There was some hustling, inside trading, in the last years when it was not certain whether Nagai would really be given back. I believed my father paid 15,000 or so for the house. In the end, his house 'went' before the other prefab houses so he ended up buying the Quick's house for 8,000. At least he was able to hand on there for a few more years.
We were living in Nagai Heights base housing from 69-71 we lived at 104 a nagai. Had a toddler boy and baby girl. Would love to hear from anyone during that time. Fantastic times and friends. Winnie
I lived at 703 Nagai Hgts from 64 to 67 and then on base from sometime in 68 to 71. We loved trying to out smart the Japanese gaurds who patrolled the place at night. We lived right across the street from the school in a single home. I remember going to watch movies at the school in the evening.
We lived in Nagai from 77 to 79. Love this post and come back to it often. Love the pictures, it brings back so many memories. I fell off my bike being 7 mths pregnant in front of the Japanese house pictured. Great memories. Cathi
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