This post only SEEMS to be occurring too soon after returning from R&R because I forgot to tell you about R&R in its proper chronology. R&R happened in December. My week's leave in Japan happened in February. (I left Vietnam forever on March 4!)
In the earlier Camp Zama post, I forgot to tell you about the winter coldness of Japanese February -- much different from tropical Vietnamese February! Commercial coat-renters met us at the plane to rent us heavy winter coats which we were very thankful to have throughout that week! I had already received my written orders to go home before heading to Zama. I had intentionally saved my 1-week official leave & my money that whole year so I could go shopping at the end. But it was serendipitous that my stateside orders exempted my expensive purchases from the U.S. Customs duty -- I didn't know that until well after I had scheduled my Japanese leave!
GI's usually got to choose when to schedule their leaves and many took it much earlier in their tour than I did. But it was my typical pattern of gratification-delay from being raised so strictly -- no hedonism or impulsivity allowed. If I had a goal or worthy reason requiring it, I could easily put off enjoyment or pleasure in the short term to achieve the goal or greater good in the longer term. That may be the "secret" to high achievement, but not necessarily "high status." I think many status-seekers do NOT delay gratification of their desires. They want status and they want it soon, whether they have really achieved anything particularly worthwhile or not. Some have, some haven't. But that doesn't stop many from pretending they have achieved significance!
A day trip arranged through the Army recreation office at Camp Zama took us by bus to see that classic Japanese cinder cone, Fujiyama. The large lake at the base of Mount Fuji was frozen solid. From a distance we could see adults and children ice skating and ice fishing by the near shore of the lake. I only noticed them emerging in the distance as we rose up the little inclined railway gaining perspective on the side of a smaller mountain to observe Fujiyama from the top. The bus trip proved to be a populist excursion into the countryside, seeing smaller towns, and stopping to let us shop in small stores that local residents were using in that instance. It allowed us a unique perspective of familiarity with the Japanese people.
Back at Zama, I bought some nice furnishings to set up a brand new household when I got back to the States, and I got a nice massage where a lightly-clad Japanese masseuse walked on my back to finish. I decided to venture out on another day and find my way through the railway labyrinth traveling a long distance to get to Tokyo and to see its sights: the Ginza's underground shopping, the Emperor's Palace, and the Nichigeki (burlesque) theatre.
I should comment specifically on the Nichigeki, where I was pretty sure I would see some naked flesh -- but not much to it in spite of its worldwide reputation. Very artsy and well-choreographed Japanese stylized dancing & singing, but nowhere near as risque as California when I returned a month later! Of course, California was the vanguard in a time of permissive transitions in the States. Hippies, drugs, and Jim Morrison's rock still dominated Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco. It was legal to participate in the full nudity of the musical troupe presenting "Hair" in the Sacramento Civic Center -- toward the end, the actors disrobed completely and came singing into the audience. (But not vice-versa -- it was not THAT permissive, yet). Nixon had gotten elected with his "secret way" to end the Vietnam War, whether he really had one or not. Kissinger & Nixon sold out the South Vietnamese and Montagnard peoples by bailing out of the war (i.e., they had us cut-and-run). US war protesters were listened to more by US politicians than were US military experts. And from 1965 on, there was a tremendous increase in the availability and use of all kinds of drugs among the non-military young people of the United States. International drug dealers must have LOVED the War for the drug-laced, oppositional counter-culture it created at home!
[Bob Dylan was right -- THE TIMES, THEY WERE A-CHANGIN'. But change is not automatically for the better! Those were shocking changes for so many of us raised on the very straight-and-narrow! Even my bride later told me her alleged-first-sex-boyfriend, Alexander, had regularly sold marijuana in Laredo when she dated him -- don't know now that I still believe her denial of using that boyfriend's drugs! But this was clearly the difference between people who graduated high school before and after 1963. Very, very few high-schoolers at the beginning of the 60's were into drugs and sex although everyone liked rock-and-roll!]
But the strangest thing I found on leave in Japan was the feeling of complete culture shock and isolation I experienced at about 10 PM one night in Tokyo. Although I knew 5 simple sentences in Japanese, how to count to 10, & how to write my name in Kanji, that wasn't enough! Luckily, I could survive somewhat by noting the Arabic number-labels by each dish of food shown in the windows of restaurants because they were used to dealing with Gai-jin (foreigners)! See what you want and write the Arabic number that was next to it on paper for the server so they could bring you the desired, corresponding entree! Traditionally, number symbols in Japanese are calligraphic, but Japanese people also know & use the Arabic number symbols -- both are printed on their artful Nippon Ginko paper money.
But, as I stood outside the moat to the Emperor's Palace late at night in Tokyo, I felt truly "Lost in Translation!" The bright, multicolor, commercial neon signs in vertical Japanese characters were ubiquitous. NOTHING was in Roman characters! I couldn't read a thing and felt completely isolated and alone in a foreign nighttime -- unable to read or speak with even the occasional passerby. I could not read a single word anywhere around me for the first time in my life since age 4! If I had had an emergency need of any sort, I might as well have been on the cold, full moon shining brightly from so far away.
posted by Richard A @ 9:19 AM
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