Sasebo, a lovely city founded in 1902, is on the Western Kyushu Island of Japan, located in the Nagasaki Prefecture. Ancient Sasebo is believed to date back to 10,000 B.C. of the Neolithic age. Many earthenware artifacts have been found from that time period. Sasebo has been a major producer of porcelain since the Edo period, which dated from 1603 to 1867.
   
Prior to the outbreak of WWII, the order for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was broadcast from the Hario radio facility in Sasebo. The city was severely damaged during the war but has been rebuilt and is now a modern city of 260,000 people, whose main industry is shipbuilding and metallurgy. Sasebo is the westernmost station of the famous Japanese bullet train. Albuquerque, New Mexico has been a sister city to Sasebo since 1966.

The vital U. S. Navy Fleet Activities base is located in Sasebo, with some parts of the base shared with the Japanese Maritime Defense Force. Today there are approximately 6,000 military personnel stationed at the Sasebo Naval Facility.

DAR History of Sasebo Chapter

The Sasebo Chapter, NSDAR, was organized in the early spring of 1996 by Sharon Stine, who had recently transferred to the Naval Port of Sasebo, Japan. The placement of an ad in the local base paper resulted in Ms. Stine finding eight new members, the number required to organize a chapter. It was the first chapter in the Units Overseas Committee to be located in Japan and the first chapter to be established on a military base. The Sasebo charter was approved on December 7, 1996, with Sharon Stine as the organizing regent.

Due to military transfers, the majority of the charter members no longer reside in Japan; therefore, there is a need to replace the members who have been transferred with new DAR members who reside in Japan. The current Officers are: Regent, Julie Gordon-Wilson (Tokyo), Registrar Mary Burkitt (Iwate), Treasurer Sheryl Hutchison (TN, USA) and members Lauralee Garson-Okamoto (Kobe) and Linda Hayakawa (Tokyo.) Prospective and pending members are Sayuri Hayakawa(Tokyo), Caroline Brekke(Sasebo) and Suzanne Lewis(Sasebo).

Any woman over the age of 18, who is eligible for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution and would like to join the Sasebo Chapter, is asked to contact Joan Dimmitt, National Vice Chairman, Units Overseas/Japan. Her email address is  lvjoand@aol.com.