Forgotten History #2 Yoyogi Park's Washington Heights

I love history, especially forgotten history. Places that once were, but are no more. Take for instance Washington Heights, Shibuya. I was doing some research several months ago and came across an interesting fact that I never knew, at one time Yoyogi Park was a US Air Force housing installation!

From 1945 to 1964 Washington Heights consisted of 827 homes, theaters, churches, schools, stores and more. Over 2,000 Americans lived there and called it home.

While It was off-limits to Japanese citizens except for maids, electricians and delivery people, several Japanese who visited have noted how completely foreign it was to Japan, a true America city right in the middle of Tokyo!

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In the image above you can see the Yoyogi National Gymnasium under construction circa 1963 in preparation of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The Yamanote line is visible at the bottom of the picture. The map below outlines the boundaries of the base.

The base is said to have given birth to the Harajuku scene due to it's proximity to one another. Kiddy Land on Omotesando dori got its start by selling silverware to the Americans at Washington Heights. Oriental Bazar, a few doors down, is also a business that stretches back to the occupation period.

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The base was closed in 1963 and all of the residents were moved east to Chofu, a city which I am strangely connected to. The base closing was in part due to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Part of the land that the base sat on was needed to build the gymnasium and swimming pool. The remaining houses were used to house the over 7000 Olympians and staff.

Shortly after the games the Japanese government began razing the remaining houses to make way for Yoyogi park. This was a course taken with many other American bases across Tokyo, empty the base, raze the buildings and build a park in its place.

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To this day only one house remains in Yoyogi park. I don't know it's exact location, but you can bet when I get back to Tokyo I am going to find it. Maybe you know where it is? Have you seen it?

Source - Harani0403

While researching this piece I came across many interesting stories of people who lived there and of Japanese who lived nearby and became friends with residents. One such story was of a boy name Kenichi. He worked as a paperboy for the Yomiuri Shimbun in early 1960's. Prior to being the paperboy for the Yomiuri Shimbun he had started a pen pal with an American girl his age from Kansas City. In order to improve his English and help him with his letters to his pen pal, he volunteered to be the paperboy for Washington Heights in order to interact more with Americans. Over the years he became friends with children there his age and was able to experience American life on the base. When the boy grew up he took the name Ichiriki Yamamoto, who is a well known Japanese novelist.

It seems so strange, of all the times I walked through the park never knowing this part of its history. I think of the tree I slept under one day and which house was there several decades earlier. I think of the children who played where I walked and all of the other things that will become only lost memories in another generation or two. Such is life!

Here is a video about American stundents and their schools which includes Washington Heights schools.

For further reading on Washington Heights check out these sites:

http://narimasu.org/history-narrative/
https://theolympians.co/tag/washington-heights/
http://www.asahi.com/english/weekly/0923/04.html

Thanks for reading!

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