To commemorate his having lived for 50 years in Japan, Chris McDonald produced an engaging book of memories. In it he wrote: "If I were asked to single out one aspect of Japan that I have found more rewarding and enjoyable than any other, I would not hesitate to answer quite simply: 'Its people.' From business executives to young sumo wrestlers; from colleagues at the office to simple country folk; and from members of the Imperial family to the ordinary 'man in the street.' All of them have contributed to my understanding and enjoyment of Japan, and greatly enriched my life here."
He has always been a people person, friendly and at ease. A tall, distinguished presence now, at 18 he was the likely lad in his first job, offered the opportunity to come to Japan. "After a chance interview, I had been taken on as a junior clerk in NCR London," Chris said. "George Haynes, who had started up NCR in Japan postwar, was visiting London, and asked how would I like to come out here. I had to decide by the following day. My mother practically had a heart attack."
He came, on an old BOAC propeller Argonaut that carried about 35 passengers and took four days to reach Japan. For his first three months he lived in the Hotel Teito, today's Palace Hotel, then one of only three hotels where foreign traders were permitted to stay. His was the Tokyo of the U.S. Army of Occupation, of willow trees and street cars in the center of the city, of famous Ginza cabarets, night clubs and dance halls long since disappeared, when Roppongi was a quiet backwater and Shinjuku the site of a city reservoir.