INCOMING MESSAGE

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of WW II. However, the site next to my workplace is still not under Japanese sovereignty. I have collected unforgettable memories of ordinary people who lived in my neighborhood right after the war.

“INCOMING MESSAGE”

In August 1945, Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration making its defeat in World War II. Japan was then occupied by the Allied Forces for seven years before regaining sovereignty in 1952. However, when the San Francisco Peace Treaty went into effect, the Security Treaty between the United States and Japan also went into effect, and U.S. troops continued to be stationed in Japan. In other words, many of the bases used by the Allied Forces became U.S. military bases. Even today, U.S. military bases remain in Okinawa and other areas.

The site next to my workplace with its neatly manicured lawn surrounded by a high fence, is still not under Japanese sovereignty. It is under the U.S. forces’. However, no one in my neighborhood is vociferously calling for the restitution of this land. It seems that citizens in this area are not particularly concerned with this 11.8 hectare-plot of land dotted with antennas. We do not know well what this place is and what happened here.

When I first noticed the little rickety hut on this U.S. military site, the post-World War II occupation of the past loomed before me. The small wooden hut, No. 1153, speaks eloquently and voicelessly through time. I was fascinated by its charm and started to research the local history in libraries. While doing my research, I began to imagine the stories of the people who actually lived here which the historical documents did not reveal.

Who was here?

What were they doing here?

What were they looking at?

What were they thinking about?

Through social networking sites and websites, I started contacting people who were living in the area at that time.

This hut was a mysterious device which opened a door to the days when people lived here after World War II. The days when people resided in the American military family housing near this hut. The days when Japanese people lived near the American-occupied territory. The days when wounded soldiers from the Vietnam War stayed at the field hospital at Camp Drake. I received messages from individuals from those days about their precious and unforgettable memories.

In April 2020, a state of emergency was declared due the COVID pandemic, and I was forced to work from home for a while. When I finally came back to office in July, I was surprised to see that the hut had disappeared. Evidence of the past was mercilessly destroyed, and I fear that people will forget the fact that Camp Drake existed here. Nothing else remains of the nightlife district near the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Asaka Camp, that was built on the former Camp Drake’s site. The inconvenient past has been conveniently erased.

The land that I am stepping upon now has most certainly been stepped upon by someone else in the past. However, the cityscape of everyday life is constantly being replaced with new buildings, so I feel as if there is no history.

The only remnants of the U.S military family housing called “Momote Village” are antennas and green lawns. We cannot see it clearly, but I know that this place where I am standing is connected to someone’s precious and unforgettable memories and experiences.