In 1965 I was a blushing bride to be of 21 years. I had fallen in love with my boss and after a whirlwind romance found myself in Tokyo waiting for my wedding day.
I was very lucky that my Dad worked for Air France and arranged tickets for my family to be present at the wedding, in April.
Of course, when my family arrived Takashi (Tom) wanted to show them "his" city. We went and saw marvelous sites with no problem. The war in VietNam was just heating up with more & more men being sent there. So there was alot of unrest among the students in the city.
My Dad, Mom, myself & two sisters were to go meet a friend of my dad's from Air France for lunch. We hired a cab and in my limited Japanese asked him to take us to a certain restraunt downtown...oh, boy! Little did we realize that a riot was taking place in that area. We turned down one street and were completely surrounded by screaming youths carrying banners, stating "Yankee Go Home".
The poor cab driver started reaching over us to close windows and he was shaking. My dad started grumbling a bit (he's an ex-marine) and I was afraid it would get out of hand.
Suddenly, a couple of faces pressed against the cab's back window and as the young men are yelling "Yankee Go Home" they spotted myself, my two pretty sisters & Mother and yelled "BUT NOT YOU".
That totally broke the tension, we women just cracked up. These couple of student protesters actually helped us turn out of the crowd onto another street.
Even, today, years later..I think of that "But Not you!" and I just have to laugh.
6 comments:
Scary stuff. But humor does break the tension! -=)
Great story,but I imagine there were a few tense moments at the time. Back in the 60's I had my own encounter with a riotous gang of youths.Different country,and different situation,but I can guess the feelings you must have been having.My savior was an ability to run very,very fast. Don
Hi,I found you through the Carnivaol.I really enjoyed this story of a time gone by.Glad you got through without harm.
connie
http://journals.aol.com/maxsox5/Windswept/conniescountrylife
What an amazing story! Found you through CarnivAOL,
Kate.
http://journals.aol.co.uk/bobandkate/AnAnalysisofLife/
This is a cute entry and I love the way you remember it with laughter. Found you through CarnivAOL.
Dianna
dear Sandi
amazing
Have you ever seen"the Year of Living Dangerously?"
it reminds me of what you write. it is agreat film btw
natalie
Post a Comment