80 Years of Stars and Stripes Pacific

George Takei speaks to reporters in front of a blue backdrop.

‘Star Trek’ actor recalls boyhood detention during WWII in camp for Japanese-Americans

George Takei was among the tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans on the West Coast whom President Franklin Roosevelt ordered removed to inland camps after Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.

A Japanese service member helps Maj. Michelle Binder wear a yukata during a cultural exchange at the USO on Yokota Air Base, Japan, July 22, 2023.

American, Japanese service women bond over military life at US air base in Japan

Female American and Japanese service members donned traditional Japanese garments and shared their military experiences during a recent cultural exchange at this airlift hub in western Tokyo.

Portrait of Brig. Gen. Anna Mae Hays, chief of the Army Nurse Corps, taken in February 1971 during an interview at Zama Hospital in Japan during a Far East inspection tour that also included stops in Korea and Vietnam. Eight months earlier, on June 11, 1970, Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington of the Women’s Army Corps made history when they became the first women to attain the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Army. (Technically, Hays was the first by a few minutes.)

1971 | The General is a Lady: Chief of Army Nurse Corps tours Asia

The first woman general in the 196-year history of the U.S. Army, Brig. Gen. Anna M. Hays, chief of the Army Nurse Corps, said Tuesday that it was wrong to compare her job to that of a division commander because she functions purely in a staff position despite the fact that she has roughly 21,000 people under her supervision.

Rep. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) greets one of the 400-some relatives in his ancestral village of Yokoyama, Japan. The Hawaiian congressman met many of the 2,200 villagers of Yokoyama — some 400 of whom are named Inouye.

1960: Young athletes compete in Junior Olympics at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan

Rep. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) Sunday visited the mountain village of Yokoyama — the birthplace of his father and where some of his uncles and cousins still live.

Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, Oct. 22, 1960: Standard of Athens leads Junior Olympic paraders at Tachi West Track at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, Saturday, Oct. 22, 1960. Behind these athletes are competitors from teams named for Argos, Corinth, Thebes, Sparta and other ancient Greek cities.

1960: Young athletes compete in Junior Olympics at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan

Seven sixth grade classes from the Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, Dependent Elementary School got together at the Tachikawa West Track Saturday, Oct. 22, 1960, for the Junior Olympics, their own version of the athletic classic.

View of Kyoto and Lake Biwa from Mount Hiei in March 1955.

City of Peace — Historic Kyoto, Tourists’, Photographers’ Paradise

Kyoto — the city of peace — is a haven for tourists and a paradise for photographers. The capital of Japan from 794 A.D. to 1868, Kyoto is dotted with 1,400 temples and shrines — almost a third of those in the entire nation.

Crew members examine the crushed remains of the Banshee jet

Jet pilot ‘vanishes’ in crash on carrier

Aboard the USS Oriskany off Okinawa — The Navy Banshee slid into the groove blinking its wing lights as it dipped for a landing.