The Tent Dinner Party

 

This is another photo that I picked up from an eBay seller in Japan, but no, it's not part of the Random Japanese Snapshot Collection.  Anyway, I'm thinking that this photo is from post-war Japan.  It looks like there are a handful of non-Asian faces in the crowd, not to mention the Rainer Beer bottles on the tables.  There's a book out there called Embracing Defeat which is about how Japan and the Japanese accepted that they had lost the war, rejected militarism, and got on with their lives as best they could, which was the foundation of the post-war Japanese economic miracle.  When I saw this photo, I suspected that it's an illustration of that concept. 

Post War

 

My first thought, with the barracks like building in the background, was that this was a photograph of one the interment camps where we imprisoned Japanese Americans.  But then, I noticed that the shoulder badge on the soldier on the right was an air core insignia, so I realized it must be post war occupied Japan.   

Bluejackets From Nebraska

The only photo in this group that has any writing on the back is the first one in the column. "Adm. Olson, Bob Harris-Yokosuka, Me" Is "Me" Denzel Smith? I went to the obituary photo of Denzel, (See the previous post for a link.) and compared the gentleman on the right, same cleft chin, same shape to the face. I'd say it's about a 95% match. Too, we know that Denzel Smith was in the navy from 1942 to 1946. Yokosuka was a large Japanese naval base at the mouth of Tokyo Bay that was turned over to the United States in 1945. So, while I don't know if Denzel was ever posted to Japan, it's possible that he was there, playing baseball for a navy team in 45 or 46. And we also know from an earlier post (navigate back two) that Denzel was a high school baseball player. Yes, I'm thinking another chapter in the extraordinary life of Denzel Smith, scholar, athlete, veteran of both the army and the navy, consultant to presidents.

There is also some stamped information on the first three photos. On the first one, "Neg. No VNC-6693 (c) -9-56 RELEASED OFFICIAL NAVY PHOTOGRAPH IF PUBLISHED CREDIT LINE MUST READ: OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTOGRAPH" And on the next two images, "OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTOGRAPH Released for publication The navy department has no objection to use of this photograph to commercial advertisements, provided copy and layout are submitted for review, prior to publication to a District Public Information Office. Naval Training Center Public Information Officer. PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE, U.S. Naval Training Center, San Diego 33, Calif."

Occupied Japan 3

Part 3 of 3. Japan was occupied by the allies from the end of World War 2 until April 28, 1952. Unlike Germany and Austria, Japan had a civil government of its own during the occupation. Embracing Defeat by John W. Dower is an excellent book about Japan after the war. Click on occupied Japan in the labels section or navigate back to see the other posts.

Occupied Japan 2

Part 2 of 3. Can anyone out there identify this city? I've been scrolling through on line photo files of Japanese cities and have found a couple of maybes but no sure fire match. Click on occupied Japan, or scroll back two posts for part one.

Occupied Japan 1

A 35 mm format, 21 frames taken in occupied Japan, presented in three posts of seven images each. What an American GI would have seen while off duty.