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Circled in red are bases that remain.

NOW ONLY A DISTANT MEMORY...

The future of several U.S. bases and installations in
the Yokohama area are still in doubt. They include
Negishi Heights, Kamiseya and Fukaya communi-
cations sites, and the Tomioka storage facility.

According to the Pacific Stars & Stripes, U.S. military
officials denied reports of an apparent agreement
for the return of those facilities comprising about
720 acres to Japan over the next several years.

Both NHK and the Tokyo Shimbun had reported that
residents of Negishi, which was built in 1948, would
be relocated to the Ikego Navy Housing Area in
Zushi and that as many as 450 new housing units
would be built there in exchange for the return of
the Yokohama area land.

However, Cmdr. Dave Wells, a Commander Naval
Forces Japan spokesman, said on Sept. 8 that no
agreement had been reached and that negotiations
are still ongoing.

If such an agreement is reached, it would be the
largest return of U.S. land in 30 years.

Few photos dramatize more the passing of an
era than one showing the empty sanctuary of
the base chapel at Grant Heights Dependent
Housing Area (left). It was taken a month after
the base was closed in 1973.  Demolition (above)
on the former Japanese Imperial Army airbase at
Narimasu had actually begun in fall 1971, the
year that Narimasu Tokyo American High
School had closed.  Grant Heights is now a large
city park, Hikarigaoka Koen, and apartments.

MIDI MUSIC ON THIS PAGE: "CAVATINA" FROM "THE DEER HUNTER"

© 2004 JAPAN BRATS

Where was your
home or duty station?

If you've been away from Japan for any length
of time, more than likely your old home no
longerexists. This map of the Kanto Plains
region of Japan shows  nearly all of the U.S.
bases and military installations that had existed
in the region between  the occupation of Japan
in August 1945 and  the present.  At one time,
the region had the highest concentration of
bases in all of Japan.  At the height of U.S.
presence in the Far East, more than 145,000
American military personnel, civilians and
dependents were stationed here.  Activity
peaked during the Korean War but was scaled
back in the waning years of Vietnam.  Fewer
than 45,000 personnel and dependents remain
today.  Many U.S. installations were located on
former Japanese military bases in rural areas
far removed from the capital city of Tokyo.  
About a dozen bases remain open today, the
others having been returned to the Japanese
under a 1960 Status of Forces Agreement.  
Some, including Tachikawa AB, Camp Drake
and Johnson AFB, continue to be used as
military installations by the Japanese Self
Defense Force. What's left of Fuchu,
Tokorozawa and Camp Owada are small
communications
sites.  Other installations are now
municipal parks, urban developments, or
have been largely left abandoned. Today, the
future of such Naval facilities as Kamiseya,
Fukaya and Negishi Heights are in doubt
as the Japanese continue to press
demands for their return. Yokota AB, about
25 miles west of Tokyo, now serves as the
headquarters for U.S. Forces Japan.