By Fair Winds (a story of Negishi Heights) / 米軍根岸住宅地区の記憶の記録

By Fair Winds (a story of Negishi Heights) explores the values that defined the Negishi Heights, Yokohama experience, through the reflections of those community members that lived it. The reminisces of yesterday are juxtaposed with the reality of demolition today. The short film attempts to seek closure for those near and far by remembering while looking forward.
Taiyo Reimers, a Negishi resident from 2013 to 2015, began documenting the demolition of Negishi Heights during the summer of his senior year at Kinnick High School (Yo-Hi). From 2021 to 2023, he filmed at Negishi over the course of 16 trips and interviewed over 40 past community members.
Written and Directed by Taiyo Reimers
Composer: Aaren Hozumi Duff
*All views expressed in By Fair Winds (a story of Negishi Heights) are those of the respective interviewees and do not represent any other individual, organization, or government body.
根岸ハイツは横浜市中区にあった米軍住宅地区である。
1947年に接収され、米陸軍の士官家族用の住宅地区として使われた。
1959に米海軍に渡され、現在は横須賀米海軍基地の下にある。地区の一部は1969年に返還されたものの、
住宅地区全ての返還は2004に基本同意され、2015年に閉鎖された。解体は2021年に始まった。この動画は根岸基地の解体を記録する。
Release: 22 November 2023
#usnavy #yokohama #根岸 #米軍住宅 #根岸米軍住宅 #japan

[@Jazz-ys2zx]

Excellent!!! I was living there almost 40years ago.557-D!! Brings me back all those memorys 👍🍀 Thank you very much🙏

[@tokyotessie]

Excellent work, Taiyo!

[@emilyrosee9108]

懐かしい、日本にいる時に住んでいた家が見えましたありがとうございます、

[@CommuniCATive]

Thank you for making and sharing this video.

[@the32bitwarrior]

Best place I ever lived. Washington, Iceland, Hawaii, Japan, Virginia, California.

[@GojillaG]

Thank you for the great work, Taiyo! I'm sure many have wished to have gone back prior to the demolition to seek their personal closure. With this production, you captured an amazing and special part of our lives where many memories will be cherished. Appreciate all the time and effort it took to create this! Sam Gentile '83

[@GojillaG]

And big props to Aaren Hozumi Duff for composing a beautiful soundtrack! Matched perfectly!

[@JayMack-jx9dl]

Best assignment working at North Pier in Yokohama for six years. Stayed at the barracks at Negishi for three months while waiting for quarters at Sagamihara FHA. Spent many nights at the club. Restocked my lunch supplies for my office at the commissary. When sick went to the clinic at Negishi, Navy doctors much better than the quacks at Camp Zama. Great times!

[@roncarlson11]

Thank you so very much for this video. I was stationed in Yokohama & Yokosuka for about 23 out of 29 years with two stateside tours somewhere in between. Our first house was in Area 2 where our son was born. We later lived in three different units in Negishi. Our daughter was born in 1978. Two of our units are in this video. This video provided me with such an enjoyable nostalgic journey. It was sad to see Negishi go, but all things come to an end in time.

[@user-og2jv7kx2d]

現在、60代です。 この地区に生まれ育ちました。アメリカンハウスの中で遊んだこともありました。外国の方の友人もいました。物心がついた頃でもあの一帯の外国の世界観は良く分かりませんでした。 日本国と同じ様な感覚でこの地にいましたから 逆に外国の方も日本国に遊びに来ていたので何の不思議もありませんでした。 そんな時代でした。 そして、根岸競馬場も1960年代はまだ公園に整備もされてはおらずリアルな感じでした。その周りで遊んでいました。当時の私の自宅は第一観覧席馬所前でした。 懐かしさでコメントさせて頂きました。

[@crackfridge]

Thank you for this it brought back so many memories

[@larryowens7023]

Excellent video, Taiyo. Although as a DODDS teacher I lived a few hundred meters off base (Minosawa street), 4 of the best years of my life were spent when teaching at Byrd Elementary '78-'82. Negishi was truly a treasure unlike any other 'base'.

[@user-xx8cw3cf4s]

太陽さん、素晴らしい映像をありがとう❗️ 私の記憶に残る映像と重なりました。 これを作るのにどれだけの労力と時間がかかったのでしょう。本当に感謝します✨ またいつか私のインスタへ遊びに来てください😃

[@KimmerAnd]

What incredible footage. ❤

[@robertm1552]

Very well done. Shows the transient nature of life, the saliency of living in the moment, while the cherishing the past.

[@KazuyaSeki-ks4zu]

一つの時代が終わったという事ですかね。 それは一個人が止められることではないし、寂しいことでもあるけれど、 こうして真実をビデオに収めるという事はとても大切な作業。 でも簡単には出来ることではありません。 貴重な資料とインタビューありがとうございます。 とても良くできています。 太陽君、お疲れ様でした。

[@TheMtodd14u]

Beautiful ❤

[@jas2own]

Very well done, always sad to see such close communities disappear, but you’re doing something very important in documenting and maintaining the memory of the place and the people.

[@user-dl6sv3bx6s]

ラインの外側、中区簑沢で生まれ育ったものです。ラインの中へはよく行きました。あの広い芝生のある庭先で父と自転車に乗る練習をしたことを今でもよく覚えています。父は沖縄島で生まれ、米軍が攻めてくる前に九州に疎開したのですが。母はその沖縄島のすぐ北、徳之島が生まれです。なぜそのような出自の父母から私が根岸住宅地区の直ぐ側で生まれ育ったのか、不思議な因果を感じます。最近もよくそばを通ることのある根岸住宅地区ですが3本柱の馬見所の向かい側の今の姿を見ることができ興味深い動画でした。ありがとうございます。

[@Patrick-ee9bg]

Thank you so much for sharing this. You did an amazing job. I saw my house. Natsukashii.

[@victorparadise5878]

I was a brat there 1982-1885, 1st-3rd grade. It was an awesome place to live. I still remember my friends.

[@amauldin71]

This video creates a poignant narrative, not only documenting the destruction of what must have been an amazing place to live, but it also serves as a powerful reminder of the transient nature of our communities and the enduring spirit of the people within them. Even though I never got to live there, thanks for providing some closure for those who did and have all those wonderful memories and for honoring Negishi's cherished past.

[@StormShoukhan]

Love this walk down memory lane. First home for me and my wife (551A Racetrack Rd) as well as the longest we have ever lived in one place since we’ve been together. Thank you for doing this project.

[@51mercury]

素晴らしい､思い出の景色を､ありがとう御座います。　幼い頃から､あちこちのdependent house area や､BOQに囲まれ､育ちました。 調布関東村､府中市内のoff base area､府中基地に属する､武蔵小金井市内のDSA､そして立川基地西地区のDSA､本牧Area1Area2､ と､次々に懐かしい景色が、消えて行くのを､見送り続ける人生でした。　その都度､行き場を失った様な喪失感と､胸が張り裂けそうな思いを乗り越えて来ました。 そんな私にとって､Negishiは、最後に残された､心の拠り所と､言うべき､場所でした。 最後に､映像と言う形で、思い出を残して下さり､感謝の気持ちで一杯です。

[@51mercury]

DHAの謝りです...😅

[@51mercury]

更に､謝りではなく、誤りでした...😅

[@hamiltontodd8579]

My family and I lived there in 1969 - 1971. I was stationed at NAS Atsugi and usually commuted via a bus back and forth. Our first home was a 2-story duplex on Race Track Road. The second house we lived in was a single-story duplex on a cul-de-sac (I don't remember the name of the street). We absolutely enjoyed our time there!

[@kevinmoynihan749]

Thank you for this.

[@rosemacarons]

Thank you for creating and sharing this record, it feels very sweet and meaningful.

[@alkerk2]

A beautifully told story of Negishi Heights. I wish I had been able to see it. I’m glad I at least I got to learn about it through your project.

[@zenvikings]

Well done...

[@the32bitwarrior]

Saw my house at 5:58, don't remember the years maybe 91-94. I remember Mr Lindwall/ Lindwall was the councilor and his wife taught 4th grade. He would play kickball with us everyday. I remember leaving thru that gate at the back of the school, the small farm outside, going to the shop and buying Dragonball cards, another place of base we called the roller slide park, going to another place off base we called Log Cabin because it was a log cabin house that was a kids amusement park, the hill on the back side of the base leaving we called cardiac hill because it was so steep to go down....rode my bike down it several times with friends to go explore. So much more. Who remember the weird construction site that was over hanging over the ocean that was vertical I beams and steel planks of a floor with no guard rails as big as a football field we'd ride our bikes on? So unsafe and what made 80s babies so cool.

[@pharmerr1ck832]

I know Mr lindwall

[@austin_brown]

Thank you Taiyo! You did some amazing work here. I wish we had lived at Negishi at the same time.

[@penicunt]

一度くらい入って過ごしてみたかたった。 近くて遠かった。

[@WittyVictory]

Taiyo great documentary. It is inspiring me to do one for my hometown in the U.S. in California.

[@erzasmith]

This is truly amazing and heart warming!! Brought back so many memories. Thank you for all your hard work and effort for this Taiyo!!

[@cpad007]

504D Skyline Drive...I lived there as a little kid from 1975-1979. Wild to see it all these years later and sad to see it completely gone.

[@TheSuperSangan]

Wow reminds me of the housing they had on sagamihara before demolishing in the early/mid 00's.

[@VRTRedStage]

We lived in Negishi from 1998 until 2003. The first house we lived in was on “Cardiac Hill” just to the right as you came on the base. In 1999 (I think) we were forced out of the house late at night due to a landslide. That house had such an amazing view (the best if not one of the best) views of Fuji-san. We were relocated into 535-A until we transferred out in 2003. Great community. Peaceful on the weekends without the industrial noise of the main base at Yokosuka or Atsugi. Great community outside the gates, we always felt to be part of the community. Thank you for this wonderful documentary of home. Arigato.

[@roberttiffany3101]

We loved out time at Negishi - we were the last family to move in. The day the movers delivered out HHGs they let us know how lucky we were because Negishi had closed and we would be the last ones in. When we left, I think there were 8 families left. Sad to see it close but happy we were able to experience Negishi!

[@user-ny5hf2zp7r]

Nice Video, I use to shop there, their minimart was better stocked than Atsugi’s commissary. That’s a crying shame what the Obama admin did returning it to Japan in exchange for 20 acres of swamp land at Ikego (They ALSO took the Ikego Tennis courts too… unbelievable)

[@51mercury]

DHAの誤りでした...😅

[@the32bitwarrior]

Mrs. Larkin 3rd grade..kinda a B. Or maybe I was just a jerk LMAO.

[@victorparadise5878]

I had Ms Larkin for 3rd grade!!!! Kind of a B! Hahahahahahahah!!!

[@djjoelb48]

hahahaha I had her in 3rd grade too! Her and Mrs Chiba.. the japanese teacher