Visited Ports.

[j.sabourn]

#19 Do you remember those Japanese cigarettes called Peace , Colin, scented like a females boudoir , everything in those early days in Japan was copied , some were good copies and some bad, today and for a number of years now their manufactured goods are mainly world reknown , especially their lenses in cameras and binoculars . Cheers JS
Even their Whisky isn’t too bad .

[cappy]

#19 Do you remember those Japanese cigarettes called Peace , Colin, scented like a females boudoir , everything in those early days in Japan was copied , some were good copies and some bad, today and for a number of years now their manufactured goods are mainly world reknown , especially their lenses in cameras and binoculars . Cheers JS
Even their Whisky isn’t too bad .

Suntory whiskey was a good buy in japan in the 50s and 60s cheap ......but is a world seller now .....cappy

[Keith Tindell]

During my time in the MN the most popular destination was Japan, it was aways on trampers where you hoped you would end up.At least that was on ships that i served on, my last two ships i was lucky that we went there. Another popular destination was NZ, i realise that was my experience, i wonder , as time went by, did those destinations diminish in popularity. kt

[J Gowers]

Keith got to agree I think Japan was the best followed closely by Singapore. I spent 2 weeks in Nagoya, (in the 70s) had a great time but cannot put any of the adventures into print here and then visited it a few times on later trips but only for a few days at a time. I rememeber being in a small bar somewhere in the North of Japan near a tanker berth. No one spoke English and the bar maid kept putting a Kareoka book in front of us so eventually we sang the only song that was in English, it was New York, New York it went down well with the locals who all looked like they worked on the docks.and they bought us quite a few rounds of drinks. They all shook our hands when we left had a great time. Once in Nagoya we were standing the worse for wear trying to get a taxi when a cop car pulled up they wanted to see out ID asked who we were etc, and told us to get in the car, we thought we were heading for the copshop but no they took us right to the gangway of the ship and helped us onboard. Nice country full of frendly people.

[Tony Taylor]

Suntory whiskey was a good buy in japan in the 50s and 60s cheap ......but is a world seller now .....cappy

Ha ha, I recall drydocking in Sasebo, the dek storekeeper had a huge bottle, at least half gallon, of Suntory in his cabin, he was three sheets to the wind most of the time there

[j.sabourn]

Just tried sending a post but appeared not to go so might appear twice.... During my apprenticeship we did 3 consecutive trips Cairns to Japan with sugar. Used to take about 3 weeks loading as came onboard in bags 12 to a sling and bled into the holds as a bulk cargo , the bags were all tallied . However the rope slings the slightest wear on them and they were discarded and put ashore in a shed. I asked the foreman what they did with them and he said they were condemned. I said can I have them ? He said sure take what you want. So the 4 of us did and stowed under the forecastle.Arriving Japan we sold to the scrap man and we were the 4 riches apprentices on the high ,low or intermediate seas , pity it was such a quick turn around in Japan. However the mate copped on to what we were doing so he had to have his cut. JS

[john walker]

As mentioned by others Japan was a great place to visit in the 60s/70s. Like most of south east and east Asia great people great bars and not forgetting great women and sights to see and excellent exchange rates which made runs ashore cheap and fun. Fast forward to the present still good places to visit but prohibitively expensive and not many decent bars in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia (With the exception of Penang) or Japan. Thailand, Cambodia and the Phillipines have modernised a bit but are still well worth a visit and still have ports that most seaman would enjoy.

[happy daze john in oz]

Visited Japan a couple of years back.
Hard to believe it was wrecked at the end of WW2 when you see it now.
The technology is quite amazing, the people friendly even if they speak little English and the countryside most beautiful.
A nation that has come a long way in a short space of time.

[Doc Vernon]

Do remember those Fags JS
They were long ones as i recall, and had a very nice Packing , the ones i am thinking on were in a Tin, Black it was! Had asort of Emblem on it very fancy!

Another Port i did visit, but not while at Sea was Tunis, in North Africa a beautiful place with such clean beaches , it looked like a place i could well live in! But ?? Will never know !
Cheers

[j.sabourn]

Think the Japanese ones were just in a cardboard packet , another one was Dove. This was the same era as the English Turf and Pasha
JS