The Beers of Oji

  It's been said that an army marches on its stomach. How true. In the case of us ASA guys at Oji Camp in the 1950s those stomachs were often filled with beer, glorious beer. On post, at the EM club (photo, right), we could get the best of European brews for 25 cents a bottle, served with live entertainment. Needless to say, we took full advantage of that bargain. Pictured below are some of the brands they stocked:

 

 

These are labels that I pulled off the wet bottles way back when. A bit ratty from age, but still a nice keepsake. My favorite was San Miguel, which was not European but came from Manila in the Philippines. Years later I also encountered the same brand in Madrid, Spain.I was also fond of Holsten Lager from Hamburg in Germany.

Things were a bit different out on the local Japanese economy, where the following brews were usually served at such places as the Germania, just off the Ginza in downtown Tolkyo:

 

 

And who could forget Sapporo, that tasty brew from frozen Hokkaido? Sadly, I don't have a label for it, just memories.

They were all delicious.

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Comments

[Ron Kersh]

Thank you for the memories: Tokyo, Nikko, Kamakura, 25 cent beer.

I passed through Oji in 1956 and was assigned to Fuchinobe.

The person you identified in some photos as Jim Webb is David Webb. At the time I did not know David but we later met at the University of Southern Mississippi where David was a journalism major. Upon graduation he married another journalism major and they purchased a newspaper in Meadville, Mississippi. They ran the newspaper quite successfully for decades until, sadly, David passed away about a year ago.

[Earl Steinbicker]

Thanks Ron, for your interest. I just checked my old army records, in particular Order 2 dated 21 Jan. 1957, of the Personnel Processing Detachment at Oji. They show him as SP3 James D. Webb, RA 24916560. The D, of course, is for "David." We are both right. Horray!