from the view point of a small boy

[sidhartha11]

Many years ago, before most were born in here, I was a little boy in Japan. I was there from age 4 until age 10. When I think about it now, so many years later, the main things I remember are the people and their manerisms. In particular, the way they treated children, like me, a silly little black boy.
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It seems, at least from what I remember, that japanese really put a high degree of respect towards children. Almost as if they view children as being very, very special little humans.
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I remember walking around alone, without any fear of trouble or harm in any way. I remember talking with the old japanese workers, they would always give me tea( hehe ).
I remember walking among all the crowded little shops i the country side, buy fireworks that you simply scratch across the matchbox top. Ecudadeska--one of my first words .. haha
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I remember mount Fuji , watching steam come from it, wondering , as in the mind of a small child, if it would explode one day and send me far into the sky.
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The smells along the crowded marketplaces, the sea shells found everywhere, the streams in the mountains
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ehhhh ... such things a little boy would remember once he becomes an old man.
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[Grandpa Frank]

One thing for sure................

if you spend some time in Japan, it leaves you with life long memories.

Uncle Frank

 

[Pachipro]

Thanks for sharing sidhartha11. I'm glad you have such fond memories and yes, the Japanese do love children, regardless of race.

 

[sidhartha11]

more memories

And those strange beetles. With huge claws reaching out about 10 feet ( exaggeration of course ). But how I loved to catch those huge beetles while living in Japan. I have
a scare of honor on my upper leg that reminds of those
huge beetles. Once I had one in a huge JAR. And while running, playing with other kids I tripped and fell on the
sidewalk, crashing down with the jar under my leg. Well, guess you know what happened!!! A BIG GASH in my upper theigh. I had to have it stitched up. In those days, the medical industry was not as sophisticated as it is today. So, I still have a very good scare on that theigh.
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And all those crazy marbles that little kids played with in japan, at least at the mixed school I attended.
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Could be that it is good that I attended elementary school in Japan because, due to my crazy nature, I probably would have met with an unfortunate demise had I attended elementary school in the US.
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For example, there was the time that we lived on an Air Base for a while in Japan, tachicawa air force base. I was such a naughty little boy and always tried to figure out ways to ride my bicycle off base into the japanese community and visit all the shops. I loved the moon pies and other interesting foods you would find there. But , of course, my favorite was the fire works that you scratch across the match box. Now my father had repeatedly warned me about sneaking off base alone. But, haha , that just made me want to sneak off base even more!!!
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THE NAKED BOY!!!
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One day I was wondering around in my father's bed room and noticed a shiny coin of some type on his table. Who knows what it was, 50 yen , 100 yen ... ehhh .. who knows. Anyway, the intoxication of handing that coin over to one of the Shop owners that sold fireworks was too much for my little-boy will-power to overcome. So, I took the coin(s) and was off to the races on my bike. I remember the exhiliration of driving thru the gates of the Air Base. I waved brilliantly at the guard and I sped by on my bike. The guard was a japanese man and he knew me well because of my frequent excursions off base. Now I was racing against time, because I had to get back without my father knowing what I had done. I would simply come back, go over to my little friends place ... AND .. we would be in firecracker heaven. AHEM.
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So I got to the shop, bought the fireworks with the coins I had STOLEN and was on my bike on the way back to the Air Base.
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As I approached the gate of the air base, I looked from side to side for my father. You never know where he might show up. This air base was a very active military base. The gate to the base was extremely busy with cars entering and leaving continuously!
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As I approached the gate and was about to wave at the guard, something happened! Simultaneously, two thoughts entered my mind.
1. There was smoke coming from my right pocket.
2. I put the matches and the fireworks in the same pocket.
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The guard saw the smoke coming from my pocket and immediately ran over to me, pulled me off my bike, pulled all my cloths off, and stomped them in a little water puddle.
All traffic stopped in amazement to observe the little naked black boy in the middle of the busy street!!!!
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I was 100% embarrased. I put my cloths back on, went home. When I got home, both parents were all upset and took me to the doctor. There were some burns, still have the scars today, on the side of my leg.
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But being such a naughty little boy, I still was up to my tricks and sneakiness ... so ... I told my father that I was merely riding my bike when a strange man came up to me and put fireworks into my pocket.
MY FATHER ran out to actually look for this terrible man that would put fireworks into the pocket of a child!!!
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Oh .. well ...
Such were the memories ...

 

[Pachipro]

Thanks for sharing your great memories. It gave me a chuckle about the matches and fireworks in the same pocket. Did your father ever find out that his coin was "missing"?

 

[Ahega]

Thank you for sharing this piece of your childhood.
I always enjoy reading such stories cause they somehow make me feel warm inside~

 

[Emoni]

This was a wonderful post. I enjoyed reading it a lot.

 

[Crystallize]

Hm, I actually don't think it has something to do with race, I have similar memories, ok, not from Japan but from my native country, that I also left a long time ago ...
I think that in general, children are the future or our worlds and there is no reason to treat them disrespectful or neglect them without reason ... give them a treat and they'll be happy and grateful for a long time, it cost so little so give so much ...

 

[Kanye]

Thanks for sharing you story.

How much does it cost nowadays to visit Japan from the UK?

 

[Taiko666]

How much does it cost nowadays to visit Japan from the UK?

It costs the price of an air ticket, accommodation and sundry expenses.