The

THE "VILLE"

Kadena Gate 2
Gateway to the "Ville"

For the "unaccompanied" guys, the "Ville" (Village) was Koza Gate 2 Street, BC Street, or New Koza (sometimes Miromi and Fuetema). Some of us ventured as far as Naha (Naminoue) and a few brave souls went in to Yoshihara, an off limits village of bars restricted to Okinawan patrons.

B.C. Street

B.C. Street (the B.C. stood for "business center") was certainly a center for "business" all right,. During our day it was a place to get drunk, find female companionship, or pawn your watch or camera. There were hundreds of bars where we could buy an Orion, a Nippon, an Asaihi, or a Sapporo beer in the big 40 oz bottles. A mixed drink was 50 cents (My drink of choice was a "she she sheven" ( CC and 7 - Canadian Club and seven up). At age 17, I did not even know what the "CC" stood for, but it sounded good and I spent many a night "takusan drunku".

Orion Beer

Orion was a local brew and always tasted "green". It was cheaper than the Nippon, Asaihi, or Sapporo and since no American beer was served downtown, it was the one we bought when we were low on "jing". Other popular beverages included Akadama Wine, Shirasagi sake (we suspected that this was made of kerosene - side affects could include temporary blindness), and Lucky wine (kerosene with Cool Aid).

One never lacked for female companionship in these places if you had a little "jingwa" in your pocket. GIs called this "jing"*. If you had no jing, you could pawn your watch, camera, or fan at an exorbitant rate of interest.

* The word "jingwa" is from the Okinawan dialect (or Okinawa "hogan"). Other words like "furaagwa" (crazy), and "nuuga" (What's the matter or "what's happening") were learned from their contact with houseboys and bar girls.

Skoshie Cab

Gate 2 Street Barbershop

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B.C. Street

This is a picture of B.C. Street from the late 60s. When we arrived in Okinawa in June 1959, B.C. Street was unpaved with open benjo ditches along both sides. I actually remember walking down this dusty street on a hot July morning after a night of revelry.

REMEMBER: The "1", "2", and "3" signs posted outside the bars. These signs indicated the level of sanitation of the place (i.e. water quality, toilet (benjo) facilities, and number of reported cases of social diseases passed on to customers). The rule: "stay out of any bar with less than a #1 sign. This system was interchanged with the "A", "B", and "C" designation system over the years. "Off Limits" signs were common on bars, These bars had no customers other than GIs so they were invariably closed.

Side Street between Gate 2 and B.C. Streets

Special services were available in these little alleys.

Occupation Yen

Until 1958, when the U.S. dollar became the official currency for the Ryukyu Islands, this was what was used exclusively downtown. The exchange rate was 120 Yen to the dollar as opposed to Japanese Yen which was pegged at 360 Yen to the dollar for many years.

The military on Okinawa was paid in MPC (Military Payroll Currency) during this same time period. By the time I got to Okinawa they had converted to U.S. currency.

Photos of the Ville