Lovely Lady sails to Japan 1956

Judging from the number of passports from the former Yugoslavian Federal Socialist Republic that were used for foreign travel, it seems to me that the Yugoslavian government was not as strict on their citizens as other socialist or communist states when it came to leaving the country. And this was not a more recent development, either. As far back as the 1950s, when the communist government was still young and the ideology still strong, the average citizen seemed to have already enjoyed a fair amount of mobility.

Most of the passports I have seen had the usual European countries: Germany, Austria, France, Britain, Switzerland and Italy, to name a few. Occasionally, there were even passports used for travel to the United States and Canada! Rarely, however, have I seen passports used for travel to Africa, Asia, and South America, let alone Australia.

This is why I was very excited when I saw this passport, which was used for travel by sea to Japan.

It must have been an exciting voyage to go by sea. Of course, you would have to deal with the boredom of seeing the endless flat, blue horizon of the sea, and perhaps seasickness as well, but the thrill and excitement of seeing a different city with different people speaking a different language at each port of call must have made up for it.

In 1956, when the thirty-five-year-old Croatian lady embarked on her journey, air travel to Asia was already possible. While it was probably very expensive, it was not impossible, and the route to Asia would have probably taken you to the Middle East, then the Indian subcontinent, then on to the Malay Peninsula, and then to Hong Kong, from where you might take a flight to the Manila, Taipei, or Tokyo or, if you were lucky enough to acquire a travel permit to enter communist China, Shanghai or Beijing.

The fact that air travel was possible at the time (although it would admittedly cost a pretty penny) makes the story of this lady, Ms. Majda Dragomanovic, even more interesting. If she didn't have the money to fly, then it means that she was not a member of the "elite" of her society, which I imagine comprised mostly of government officials and their cronies.

Of course the fact that she went to Japan in itself is very interesting. Why was she there? Was she paying someone a visit? Did she do some kind of work? And, if she did, it was certainly not diplomatic work since this is not a diplomatic passport and it does not carry a diplomatic visa, but rather a tourist visa. But how much touring did she do? She stayed for almost three months!

There were many Americans stationed in Japan at this time. Was she perhaps visiting an American GI  whom she met in Europe somewhere during the war and fell in love with?

Or was she just simply interested in the exotic country in the far, far East? And, if so, had she saved up all her life to go? We have to remember that even sea travel was probably not too cheap and that she was coming from a socialist state, where you can't really "save money" since wages are so low since the economy is controlled. So where did she get all the money? Was she sponsored by her lover, who was a member of the government? Or did she work on the ship? Or did she do other types of work to earn easy money?

Hers must have been one heck of a story.

At any rate, here is a summary of her travels based on the immigration endorsements that are found in her passport:

• 05.01.56
• Passport Issued - Zagreb, Croatia
• Travel Permit to Japan granted - Zagreb, Croatia
• 24.04.56
• Indonesian Transit Visa - Belgrade, Serbia
• 28.04.56
• Japanese Transit Visa - Rijeka, Croatia
• 10.05.56 
• Exit - Rijeka, Croatia
• 17.05.56 
•  Transit - Port Said, Egypt
• 25.05.56
• Transit - Assab, Eritrea
• 31.05.56
• Transit - Karachi, Pakistan (handwritten)
• 12.06.56
• Transit - Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
• 06.07.56
• Travel Permit to Burma, Singapore, and Hong Kong granted - Rangoon, Burma
• 07.07.56
• Burman Transit Visa - Rangoon, Burma
• 12.07.56
• Exit - Rangoon
• 15.07.56
• Transit - Penang, Federation of Malaya
• 08.08.56
• Transit - Hong Kong
• 09.08.56
• Hong Kong Transit Visa - Hong Kong
• 21.08.56
• Entry - Kobe, Japan
• 23.08.56
• Entry - Osaka, Japan
• 24.08.56
• Entry - Yokkaichi, Japan
• 26.08.56
• Entry authorization granted - Yokohama, Japan
• 22.10.56
• Stay permit extension granted - Tokyo, Japan
• 08.12.56
• Passport extension - Tokyo, Japan
• 09.12.56
• Exit - Tokyo, Japan (by air)
• Transit - Hong Kong
• 17.12.56
• Transit - Singapore
• 31.12.56
• Burman Transit Visa - Rangoon, Burma
• 07.01.57
• Exit - Rangoon, Burma
• 11.01.57
• Transit - Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
• 09.01.58
• Travel Permit to Belgium, Austria, Germany, and Italy granted - Zagreb, Croatia
• Passport extension - Zagreb, Croatia
• 19.06.58
• Belgian Visa - Belgrade, Serbia

It is interesting to note that, just a little over a year after her return from her Japan trip, she renewed her passport and applied for travel permission to a few western European countries and that she was even issued a visa for Belgium. However, for some reason, the passport has no further entries.

Was it because she noticed that she no longer had enough pages to fill in her passport and therefore got a new one for her next trip? Or did she run out of money for another trip and therefore decide not to go? Was she denied other visas (although I doubt she was)? Did she no longer have a reason to go West?

On a final note, it seems that her documented intention to travel to European countries after visiting Japan makes it more probable that she was also in Japan on vacation for some sightseeing. In any case, this passport is surely an interesting piece with an interesting story to match.