In the spring young men’s thoughts turn to flying kites; especially if they are 19, give or take a year. At least that was true among the signalmen at the HECP at the entrance to Tokyo Bay in the spring of 1946. It was also when they discovered that flying kites was a favorite pastime in Japan.
The young, former Japanese Navy signalmen, also part of our signal gang, joined in our hobby with enthusiasm. They were crucial in fact. We had to make our own kites and they located and purchased the necessary range of materials, for which they were reimbursed, of course. We used Bamboo wood, split into thin strips and light paper which came from God knows where. The kite edges were folded and glued. Somewhere they found string both light and strong. Gradually, by a process of trial and error, the kites became good flyers.
After the first successes the kite flyers began a kind of competition. We even tried flying them from the signal tower, but the officers put an immediate stop to that. We then experimented with flying two kites on one string. We tied a V into the string and placed a three foot long divider above the V to keep the kites apart. We even tried three on a string without success.
At some point during the season we constructed reels to bring the kites in. Then we began contests. Who could keep kites flying continuously for the longest period of time. When the wind shifted, we tried to keep the kites flying while they moved in a full circle in the four directions. We rarely succeeded. We competed in other ways, such as seeing who could get the most altitude or the most string out. We tried other shapes including a box kite; but again with little success.
Japanese ships often anchored a short distance from the tower. They included destroyers delivering Japanese being returned to the homeland from all over the Pacific. We could see them with our binoculars. They were enjoying the show, especially when, at least once, the wind died and our kite fell onto the superstructure of one of the ships.
After a time, we got bored and turned to other pursuits.
