Leif - Sagamihara, Japan - Fall 1981 - Age 6

This photo really should have been posted with the photos I took of Leif in the hideout or "fort" he and a friend made out of the branches of a tree that had been trimmed or cut down. I put them on the blog some time ago. Leif was pulling on a handle he and his friend had attached to a rope, but why I no longer remember. He has a backpack on. I don't think this was his school backpack, but rather one with "supplies" and toys for play.

Our three years in Japan were a marvelous time for stretching the imagination and the mind. There was so much to absorb, learn, understand. The Japanese toys were fascinating. The travel was amazing. The language was mysterious. The Japanese children's television shows were compelling. Every day, it seemed, brought something new. There was little that was routine. Even school brought cultural treats. Thus it was a rich and enriching time for all of us, changed our thinking, changed our lives.

Leif arrived in Japan at the age of five-and-a-half and left when he was eight-and-a-half. That is a time of great change in a child, and much of what he experienced there remained important to him the rest of his life.

We were fortunate to be there at that time. It was good for us as a family as well.

Leif in the Hideout - Sagamihara, Japan - November 1981 - Age 6

Some of the boys in the neighborhood built a pretty cool hideout out of branches that had been trimmed from some of the trees in the wooded area. I took these photos of Leif peeking out of the hideout and you can see it was pretty large.

Leif's friend Anil shared this memory of what happened to the hideout with me:

I have an interesting memory about this one...I believe that Leif and a friend of his from down the street (with whom I had a falling out) built this shelter. It was very well constructed and I believe it was built over a ditch or crater in the ground so there was actually quite a bit of room to sit inside.

In the picture there is a blue structure to the left and what faintly appears to be Sagamihara's back gate, and from what I remember the shelter was in the "Batman's trail" woods across the street from where we lived (so maybe the blue structure is the Ushijima's old house, and is across the street, i.e. in our court; maybe the car is on the street?).

These guys spent forever building it, then one day when they weren't around I went over to the shelter with another troublemaker, and we were horse-ing around, and pretty much collapsed the thing. I remember walking around and on top of it with another boy saying aloud "this doesn't look that safe, it's not that strong" which quickly became a self-fulfilling prophecy. I believe I was persona-non-grata with Leif and the other boy for some time after that. But I also think that they rebuilt it to some extent.

I don't remember that, but it sounds like the typical neighborhood boy story. They all got along well most of the time, and I don't remember Leif ever not wanting to play with Anil. :)