Times-Square Samurai

or The Improbable Japanese Occupation of New York

Twenty years of story-telling have passed since American troops first "occupied" themselves in Japan—years of storing up, savoring, and enlarging on those zany GI escapades that are responsible for prolonging many a coffee break and extending many a "just for a quickie" bar stop. Today, little reality remains in the stories even for the chest thumping vet, let alone his breathless listeners.

But here's where Bob Johnson and Bill Chadbourne—vets themselves—put a little perspective back into those occupation memories with this rib-tickling cartoon account of what actually happened…with a major switch. The shoe, or in this case the geta, is on the other foot and it is New York that is imaginatively occupied by the Japanese.

This turn-about is sure to give the GI a look at himself that he has never seen before. It will also introduce his heretofore unwary listeners to the real occupation story, the one responsible for adding a new, rollicking chapter to American humor.