This is Post #6 in the new Series “Going to Afghanistan”.

If one were to go to Afghanistan today one would probably fly through India.  In that, things have not changed too much.  The difference is that one would have maybe one stop in-between the US city of departure and ones arrival in New Delhi.  Fifty years ago things were quite different.  A trip to Afghanistan was not just about Afghanistan, it was about the trip there.  There would be many stops in ones journey “half way round the world”; one would change planes, stay in hotels overnight; visit the sites in each city along the way if there were time.  This was why people traveled.  This was also why people took jobs that enabled them to travel.

Tuesday - 23rd of September, 1958 - 1:19 PM Tokyo Time:

“It has been a good flight.  Very smooth and quiet all the way.  Tokyo weather is reported overcast and 67 degrees Fahrenheit.  Customs promises to be simple.  Landing cards are filled out.  Fred and Father”

Almost exactly 35 years after the September 1st 1923 earthquake Fred Clayton enters Tokyo.  He was (almost) ten when he first heard about the Tokyo earthquake that had “leveled Tokyo”, killed 91,000 people, destroyed 83,000 homes and damaged 380,000 more.  This in addition to the tens of thousands of commercial buildings lost.  It was the Tokyo earthquake that had first inspired Fred to become an engineer, he vowed, “I will go to Tokyo and help rebuild it.”

The one notable “commercial building” that survived the earthquake was the Imperial Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and completed in 1916.  The hotel was mostly undamaged.

Needless to say Fred did not get to Tokyo in time to help rebuild the city .  By 1958 the city had been rebuilt, again destroyed by American fire bombing, and again rebuilt.  Amazingly the Imperial Hotel still survived.  The second time it was because it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, American, and the US bombers were given strict orders to keep away.

Imperial Hotel - Tokyo
Wed. 24 Sept. ‘58
5:30 AM Tokyo Time

“I’m staying in the new section of the Imperial Hotel.  It is as modern as the Holiday (Hotel) in Reno and the most modern big hotel I’ve stayed in.  Much nicer than anything in New York.

Money - $10.00 = 3,682 Yen.  Airport Bus 480 Yen, 20 Yen tip.  Room 2,900 Yen plus 10% tip.

I haven’t bought a meal yet so can’t tell you how they are.  I arrived at the hotel about 4:00 PM yesterday.  As I was very tired from the 20 hr. flight from Seattle I took a big hot bath and went to bed thinking I’d get up later and have dinner.  I awoke at 12:00 midnight so went back to sleep.  When I awoke at 5:00 AM I felt rested.

This is an interesting room.  The light fixtures are all fluorescent and the lamps all have Japanese lantern shaped shades illuminated with both fluorescent and incandescent bulbs.  The chairs and bed stand and the bed are made of white oak.  The writing table, dressing table and coffee table are mahogany with a light finish.  The casements  and doors are of pine.  The walls are covered with beige cloth with gold leaf figures.  The ceiling is also covered with beige cloth.  All interior corners have cording instead of molding.

All table surfaces are plastic.  The wardrobe closet doors are framed in oak and paneled in matching wall cloth.  The floor is carpeted wall to wall in green.  The outside wall is almost all window with double glass about 6” apart.  The room is completely air-conditioned.

Tokyo air terminal is modern and beautiful too.  Out of my window I see a double track electric elevated railway about a block away.  Structures of any size express earthquake resistant design and are more satisfying than structures on our own east coast.

Yesterday was a holiday so I didn’t miss any contacts as offices were closed.  Tonight I leave for Hong Kong.  More about Tokyo later.  Must pack, dress, and eat now.  It’s raining outside.  Love.”

Notes:  It was not a good day for pictures.  There was the rain, there was the heavy overcast.  35 mm film for slide cameras was still expensive and hard to get; there were only so many rolls allotted for the trip and the trip was young.  There would be no film available in Afghanistan.

Fred started taking slides when he left for Burma.  He bought a new Kodak camera and pointed it out the airplane window directly at the rising sun at Wake Island and clicked the shutter.  The instructions that came with the camera said “never do this”.  He did.  I still have that first picture, “Dawn at Wake Island”, it’s still a beautiful shot.

His “Burma Slides” became somewhat famous in a limited sort of way.  My parents gave colored slide shows about Burma in the days when even Life Magazine was black and white and the National Geographic still had pictures in that 1950’s print media sketchy color.  A lot of his photographs were taken for technical reasons, to show how things worked or how things got done or could get done.  Buildings, bridges, and transportation were also always big; but he also enjoyed taking pictures of people, of the everyday people doing everyday things in their everyday clothes - living life and working, or just being sometimes.

For Afghanistan he bought a new camera, a Nikon, a really nice Nikon in those days; nothing like the cameras now, but pretty good for 1958 and for Afghanistan and for a few pictures of Tokyo in the rain.  The Imperial Palace - click.  The U.S. Embassy - click.  The Capitol Building of Japan - click.  Frank Lloyd Wright’s now “Old Imperial Hotel”, click, click.

Fred W. Clayton took this picture of the American Embassy in Tokyo, Japan in September of 1958.  Of the five automobiles pictured, four are American made.

Note:  The Holiday Hotel (not a Holiday Inn) near the Post Office in downtown Reno was at the time the newest hotel in Reno.  Fred did the engineering work on the restaurant that overhung the Truckee River.

[First posted:  2010.02.27 / Saturday - Approaching Tokyo]