From August 1974, until the end of January 1975, I traveled throughout the Orient while serving with Patrol Squadron Nine, an anti submarine warfare unit in the United States Navy. Our squadron's home base was in Japan, but commitments took us to South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Of course, while exploring these new and mysterious areas, I kept my eyes peeled for insulators, not knowing just what to expect.

From left to right: 

1. White porcelain with small Japanese embossing on one side; 
2. Green porcelain with no embossing; 
3. White porcelain embossed  on one side; 
4. White porcelain embossed "MADE IN / JAPAN" on one side; 
5. White porcelain with "ENGLAND" stamped into the porcelain on the flat top of the insulator.

Basically, every place that I visited utilized porcelain insulators on their open air lines. My first find happened in Mia Jima, Japan, a small but mountainous island covered with luxuriant vegetation and an abundance of deer and monkeys. The island has been and still is a sacred shrine for followers of the Buddhist and Shintu religions. Also, because of its history and temperate climate, Mia Jima is a year round tourist mecca for Japanese and foreign visitors. While enjoying the sights and natural beauty of the island, my wife and I encountered a small shed, apparently a general purpose maintenance facility for the island, located beside one of the many mountain trails. The shed, run down and surrendering to the green vegetation, had a small steel bracket with three small porcelain insulators. Being unconnected and within reach, I quickly gathered them in. (See picture for 1st three insulators left to right.)

Only a small, aged Japanese woman passing by noticed my actions, and she ignored me, probably never amazed at what silly foreigners do and most assuredly unaware that anything like an insulator collector exists.

My next find came on Diego Garcia, a small subtropical island located about 1500 miles south of India in the Chagos Islands, still a property of the United Kingdom. While operating out of Diego, our crew had a chance to explore the island, a seven mile long horseshoe shaped area only about one half mile wide. On the opposite side of the horseshoe, we explored the remains of a French coconut plantation (operated from 1733 until 1970). The ghost town consisted of a main house, church, hospital, school, workers' houses, copra plant, and machinery repair building. Small utility poles ran throughout the old settlement; however, the only insulators were located on the side of the manager's house. (See picture, 4th and 5th insulator, left to right.)

One of my main ambitions when I return to the Orient in January will be to search for the elusive insulator again, maybe next time finding a bonanza of old glass tucked away in some out-of-the-way place with a strange sounding name.