Retracing Dad's Footsteps In Japan

by Armand Vaquer

As Father's Day is just around the corner this month, I thought I'd post an article on a visit to where my dad was once stationed in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. My dad passed away of cancer on December 15, 1999.

In the early 1950s, my dad was in the 40th Division of the U.S. National Guard in Los Angeles, California. Harry S Truman was president at the time.

When the Korean War broke out in June 1950, under the auspices of the United Nations, my dad's national guard division was called up to active duty and was sent to South Korea.

From Wikipedia:

The conflict arose from the attempts of the two Korean powers to re-unify Korea under their respective governments. The period immediately before the war was marked by escalating border conflicts at the 38th Parallel and attempts to negotiate elections for the entirety of Korea. These negotiations ended when the North Korean Army invaded the South on June 25, 1950. Under the aegis of the United Nations, nations allied with the United States intervened on behalf of South Korea. After rapid advances in a South Korean counterattack, North-allied Chinese forces intervened on behalf of North Korea, shifting the balance of the war and ultimately leading to an armistice that approximately restored the original boundaries between North and South Korea.

My dad, as an activated member of the U.S. Army, was a military policeman (MP) (he had wanted a career as a policeman, but he didn't meet the height requirements of the day). He was first sent to Sendai, Japan. Japan was still an occupied nation at the time of the start of the Korean War, and the U.S. had a big military base in Sendai.

The coastal town of Matsushima is only minutes away from Sendai by train. While stationed in Sendai, he and his army buddies visited surrounding areas, includng Matsushima. The photo below is of my dad in his MP uniform in front of the 400-year-old Godaido temple while on duty. [See note at bottom.]



In April 2006, I took a vacation trip to Japan and some of the places I wanted to see were Sendai and Matsushima. Sendai is a beautiful city whose avenues are tree-lined. I took a Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Sendai. Sendai is about 200 miles north of Tokyo and it took about an hour and a half to get there.

I arrived at Sendai Station (below) and took a taxi to my ryokan (Japanese inn). Sendai's subway system is not as extensive as Tokyo's, so it made a taxi ride necessary.

Above, Sendai Station was featured in "Gamera 2: Advent of Legion."

After settling into my room at the ryokan, I explored around the city of Sendai, which included a visit to the site of Sendai Castle. The next day, I returned to Sendai Station to catch a local commuter train to Matsushima. It took about 25 minutes to get to the station at Matsushima.

Matsushima is a beautiful seaside town with many tiny offshore islands. Visitors can take tour boats to see the islands. Before doing so, I located the Godaido temple that my dad had his photo taken in front of. I had one of the locals take one of me at almost the same spot as the one of my dad (below) fifty-five years earlier.



After this, I took one of the tour boats to see the offshore islands. Immediately after departing the dock, hundreds of seagulls flocked around the boat begging for food (below).

Above, the Matsushima seagulls knew where they can get food.

The tour boat took a meandering tour around the many islands (below). We also passed areas where oysters were being caught. The boat tour was about an hour or so long.



After we got back to the dock, I headed up toward the Zuigan-ji temple. The walkway (below) was beautifully lined with trees.



After returning to my ryokan after the day's excursion, I treated myself to a onsen bath and a sumptious meal that was prepared by the ryokan staff. The next day, I returned to Tokyo for more fun, which included the premiere of Gamera The Brave. I'll write on that in another post in the future.

It was a moving, personal experience to visit a place where my dad was once located about 55 years previously and retrace some of his footsteps. While all my trips to Japan have been enjoyable, this trip has to rank at the top for me.

NOTE (6/4/09): I pulled out the original photo of my dad at Matsushima and he wrote a note on the back that reads:

10/6/51

Took this picture while on duty in Matsushima. The temple in the background is supposed to be 1,000 years old. You can rent the boats for 50 cents, two hours.

The present Godaido temple (in both photos) was built around 1604 as a reconstruction ordered by the Date clan. Prior structures date back to 807 A.D.