Motorbike Tour of Camp Zama

A motorbike tour of Camp Zama (U.S. Army Garrison Japan), U.S. Army Japan command headquarters installation near Tokyo. (Please click off the banner ad at the bottom to view captions.) An overlay map shows the approximate route taken.

Camp Zama is located near Zama-shi (Zama City), about 40 km (25 miles) southwest of Tokyo in Kanagawa Prefecture, and is home to approximately 5,000 military and civilian personnel and their dependents. It is shared with a contingent of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF). The sprawling 578-acre installation is a virtual small American town replete with housing quarters, 18-hole golf course, schools, shopping and dining facilities, food court, fitness center, bowling alley, indoor pool, park, fishing pond, and other amenities. It also includes Kastner Army Airfield, which boasts a 1,910-foot runway.

Camp Zama was originally established in 1936 by Emperor Hirohito as the Sobudai Imperial Japanese Army Officers Academy, the equivalent of West Point. Immediately after Japan's surrender in World War II, the 1st Cavalry Division took possession of the academy, which then served as the 4th Replacement Depot. It was later renamed Camp Zama and served throughout the Korean and Vietnam wars as a principal logistical support facility. Located in nearby Sagamihara, Camp Zama U.S. Army Hospital (which closed in 1979) treated wounded servicemembers during both conflicts.

Videography by Clinton, Vondi Productions; Post-production by Tom Barry.