HOME MOVIES: 1947-1949 OCCUPIED JAPAN & OKINAWA

Genre: home movie

Year Published: 1947

Format: 16mm

Description: Shot by a U.S. serviceman during the occupation of Japan, this 1947-1949 home movie shows the Yokota Air Base in Japan, a baseball game and a model airplane fair on the airbase. It also shows rest and recreation – trapshooting, swimming and just lounging, at the Okinawa seaside resort, possibly near Camp Hansen, in Okinawa. Featuring a short trip to the Kamakura Buddha and the Kotoku-in. 0:11- panorama of a mountainous arid area, taken from a hill, panning to an Oldsmobile S98 Hydramatic 1946 model and a what looks like a 1937 Ford Deluxe Station Wagon 0:27-0:27 radio mast, probably at the transmitter area of Camp Hansen, Okinawa , Ryukyu islands 0:34 woman in a dark green dress, possibly wife of the person filming? 0:38-0:39 A Boeing B-29 airplane, possibly the RB-29 and RB-29A reconnaissance model. 0:40-1:05 View from the B-29 cockpit taking off, low-altitude flight over farms and fields 1:09 A B-29, in pre-1943 camouflage, non-repainted, with an unclear tail number – possibly 481813(?), its underside seared from a fire?, not one of the Nagasaki or Hiroshima Silverplate planes 1:19-2:20 Baseball field and base grounds at Yokota Air Force Base with the Yo 1:34 slo-mo footage of a ball throw 2:09 A hand-painted sign on the field, reads "After the game, visit Club Zanzibar" 2:19 A baseball scoreboard "Yokota Air Force Base, Home of the Attackers" 2:21-2:30 A US Army Airforce officer trapshooting 2:40-5:37 Adults and children watch in awe as other adults fly various model airplanes 3:01 Incredible 20th Bomb wing Boeing B-29 scale model, some kind of a Short brothers civilian aircraft 4:04 ...a technical mishap... 4:10…leading to a successful takeoff nevertheless! 4:40 a model airplane equipped with a smoke trail emitter 5:38-6:17 Kamakura Buddha and the Kotoku-in temple 5:58 A US Army Airforce serviceman, friend of the cameraman 6:17-6:41 Bungalow houses, crew quarters at the Yokota AFB, various shots of Yokota AFB 6:41-7:27 Hermit crab taking an empty conch shell and scrambling off to safety. Closeup of the crab and the characteristic trapdoor it uses to close the entrance to its tiny home. 7:28 At the beach 7:30-8:00 Still shot of the mountains above, the sea 8:01 More USAF servicemen trapshooting 8:28-10:00 Frolicking at the sea, possibly at Okinawa, as the shoreline is similar to the OK footage9:20 A worried USAF serviceman 10:05-10:19 coconuts and coconut trees 10:29 A prairie-like environment covered with brush, followed by more nature, sea and ... 11:17 … various flotsam on the seashore 11.28 A typical 1940ies seaside hotel-like building, 11:42 A US serviceman shooting something offscreen with a Ruger Umarex(?) sports air pistol, same Oldsmobile Hydramatic S98, car plate 4A29A4

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