The Hon. Dollars
Time Magazine reported on 19 April 1954…
Photographers’ flashbulbs and shopkeepers’ eyes popped in happy unison as the sleek green Cunard luxury liner Caronia tied up at a Kobe pier side. “A particularly wonderful group”, clucked an official of the Japan Travel Bureau as a long line of Helen Hopkinson ladies and balding gentlemen picked their way down the gangplank. “I should estimate that they came 95% to buy souvenirs and only 5% for sightseeing - a tedious business anyway”.
Remembering the carefree days when tourism earned them more money from overseas than even the silk textile business, the Japanese had looked forward eagerly to the well-advertised arrival of the Caronia, for its staterooms were filled with the most expensive collection of dollar-heavy souvenir hunters ever to hit the Ginza.
In accommodations that cost from $2,750 (for a B-deck cabin with two bunks) to $29,000 (for a main deck suite), they had come from the U.S. (500 of them in all) to see the Pacific in style over a leisurely 99 days, picking up memories and mementos in exotic ports from Pitcairn Island to Singapore.
In Kobe, the first of two stops in Japan, they lost no time adding to the collection. Heading virtually en masse for the Great Circle department store, they bought out its entire stock of high-priced screens, dolls and kimonos. “Incredible”, murmured one dazed floor manager, “the more expensive the items, the better they sold!”
In city after city, the expensive plundering went on. In Kyoto, a taxi driver exclaimed in bewilderment over a 3,000 yen (US$8) tip for a 100 yen (28¢) fare. Pausing briefly to glance at Tokyo's famed Thunder Gate, one group of 40 plunged into the Japanese capital's shopping district followed by a truck in which to carry their purchases back to the Imperial Hotel.
One persistent matron spotted a decorative street lantern erected by the city in honour of the Cherry Festival. “I want that”, she demanded, collaring a nearby shopkeeper. “I did not want to offend her”, said the hapless Japanese, “but I could not sell her a municipal street decoration. After a moment, she gave me a look of unutterable disgust and proceeded on her way”.
Last week, by the time the Caronia left Japan for Honolulu and home, she had left behind some $300,000 in good convertible currency. “They were so nice, so charming”, cooed a Japanese official over the departed tourists, “and so very, very rich”.
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