Sasebo Beginnings

The USS Belleau Wood arrived in Sasebo, Japan shortly after leaving White Beach in Okinawa, Japan where we offloaded approximately 2,000 U.S. Marines and all of their gear. All of us had just completed a port visit to the city of Vladivostok, Russia.

Having recently come aboard the ship, I was looking forward to seeing what life in Sasebo (and just Japan in general) was like. Oddly, or so I thought for a forward-deployed vessel in the U.S. Navy, the ship had no future trips or port visits scheduled in the near future. 

The first chance I had, I ventured onto the base to see what it was like. (Not knowing any of the Japanese language, I had to psych myself up to eventually leave the gates.) The base, known as officially as Commander, Fleet Activities Sasebo was not very large. In addition to the USS Belleau Wood, it was home port to a few smaller U.S. Navy amphibious craft including the USS Dubuque, USS Germantown, USS Fort McHenry and minesweepers USS Patriot and USS Guardian. Additionally, the port was home to a number of Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force craft (the equivalent of the Japanese Navy).

Hemmed in by the port city of Sasebo, most sailors stationed there with families lived approximately 40 minutes away at another facility called Hario—while some chose to live in Sasebo itself or out in the “cho” or neighborhood.

When I did finally work up the courage to step foot outside the base, I went out the gates and cut through a series of U.S. owned athletic fields and Albuquerque Park, over Albuquerque Bridge to reach the Ginza. (Sasebo is the sister city to Albuquerque, New Mexico… as I learned by reading a nearby plaque. I too wondered why the heck the park and bridge were named that too.)

The Ginza is a mile-long open air (yet covered) shopping arcade. It consists of everything from ramen shops and other restaurants to department stores and Pachinko parlors (a game which I still have absolutely zero understanding of that is very popular in Japan). At one end of the Ginza is an area known as “Sailor Town,” which is packed with a variety of bars catering to U.S. military personnel. At the other end is “Sake Town,” bars which often cater to Japanese businessmen and will not often allow foreigners inside unless accompanied by a Japanese citizen.

I vividly remember stepping foot into Sasebo itself (and not a piece of U.S. owned property) and feeling as though I was the first man setting foot on the moon. While up to that point, I had flown through foreign countries (mostly spending time in airports) and lived on Diego Garcia, this was the first time I had ever actually been in what I considered a truly “foreign” place.    

I made my way past a few of the bars and entered the Ginza. And I just walked. I was delighted to see Japanese versions of stores I was familiar with like a toy store that appeared to be the Japanese version of the American shopping mall staple Kay Bee Toys as well as the Japanese version of the 7-11 convenience store. That first night, I just took it all in and then returned to the ship a few hours later.

A few days later, I was assigned to work on Shore Patrol in town. I got dressed in my working whites or “Good Humor Ice Cream Man” uniform (as it was more affectionately known) and met all of the other folks who were on duty on the docks at the predetermined time. We were each given black armbands with a yellow “SP” written on it and loaded into a van to be deposited into Sailor Town for the night. Or at least until about 2:30 a.m.

While it was an uneventful night, I began to see the lay of the land with regards to Sailor Town, where sailors could go as well as the areas of town they should stay away from.

The following weekend I decided to went back to the Ginza—especially considering it was one of the few things you could do in Sasebo. I spent most of the day venturing in and out of stores and even began to extend my travels to smaller stores located in alleys off the strip. I returned to the ship that afternoon intent on finally checking out some of the Sailortown bars that evening.

My first stop was a place that had intrigued me during my stint on Shore Patrol called Polar Bar. I walked in and, almost immediately, realized that it was not what I was looking for. Or it could have been the sailor who was drunkenly crooning karaoke tunes while sitting at the bar. Either way, this was not going to be a place I hung out now or possibly ever.

In my mind, I went over the places I had seen or heard about. I decided to head back toward the Ginza. Two places stuck out in my memory and they just happened to be on top of one another—Gramophone was a first floor bar and its upstairs counterpart Playmate.

I went into Gramophone first. I could see it was obviously a pretty popular place, it was dark and crowded. And I really didn’t see myself even ordering a beer here so instead I wandered upstairs to Playmate.

I’m not sure exactly what I was looking for in a place to grab a drink, but I did know that this was closer to where my mind was at. Quieter than my previous two stops that night, Playmate was simply a long, rounded bar and an additional room with two pool tables. It was easy going and unpretentious. Pinned to the wall above the bar was a collection of military hats from various ships that had visited including one which was most likely found in the Philippines that said, “Fighter by day. Lover by night. Alcoholic by choice. Sailor by mistake.”

I sat at the bar and was immediately greeted by a strikingly attractive Japanese girl named Aiko who asked me what I would like. I ordered an Asahi beer and began to strike up a conversation with Aiko. Her English was excellent. We talked a bit about where I was from, what ship I was on and my job. After a half hour or so, I noticed another girl working at the bar named Harumi who just happened to be Aiko’s younger sister. Harumi asked if I played pool.

“Not well,” I said.    

“Perfect. Buy me a shot and let’s play,” Harumi said.

I agreed and we walked back to the pool tables. I put in some Japanese Yen coins and she racked up the balls as I searched for a pool cue that didn’t appear to have been run through a wood chipper.

As this was her turf, Harumi let me break. And I did a deplorable job at it, not sinking one ball. Within minutes, she had run the table and was about to make an eight ball shot. Never having been very good at shooting pool, I wasn’t expecting much. Harumi mercilessly beat me at pool three more times that evening.

I went back to the ship that night happy that I had found a place where I could both relax and enjoy the company. I had much more to explore in Japan. And this was merely a simple, hopeful start.

- Scott Kaminski

* - All names have been changed.