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Visiting United States military bases in Japan
Visiting US military bases is fun for me. The US Army, US Navy, US Air Force and US Marine Corps use 75 facilities within Japan and Okinawa, 51 of which are dedicated and the rest 24 shared with Japan Self Defense Force. Though those facilities are usually closed to civilians, they are open to residents around them once or twice a year, and you can get inside the military places during these festivals. Visiting those facilities is one of the few occasions to get in touch with the United States. You can eat American-made hamburgers, hot dogs, steaks, turkey legs, and other American foods. You can pay foods, sodas, beer, […]
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US military bases in Japan
As written several times in this blog, I like to visit US military bases in Japan when they are open to public. They are usually off-limits to Japanese civilians, but open a few times a year for friendship festivals. Once you pass through the gate, you can see the same landscapes in the United States as seen on TV which you can’t see while off base. Why do Japanese people find so amusing about what are seen in the United States? Going to the United States is, for most of them born after WWII, a dream and an exciting unordinary experience. They long, they attempt, and some lucky ones carry […]
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Camp Zama Cherry Blossom Festival
Every time I begin to visit a US military facility I feel that spring has come. Yesterday I went to Camp Zama for US Army Cherry Blossom Festival as this year’s first visit to US military bases. It was a little cold but fine. Cherries were almost at their full bloom and looked the most beautiful. There were plenty of people coming the venue. Here’s the video recorded by a camcorder of my cell phone at Camp Zama yesterday and you can see what went on there. US Army Cherry Blossom Festival in Camp Zama 2010 from Masayuki (Yuki) Kawagishi on Vimeo. This is yesterday’s lunch eaten at a food […]
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Visiting US military bases
I love to visit the US military bases located within Japan, such as Yokota Air Base, Camp Zama, Atsugi Naval Air Facility, Yokosuka Naval Base, etc. They are usually closed to civilians and normal Japanese people, but they open the gates a few times a year so that everybody can get into the bases (within limited areas, though). Actually I’m not so much interested in military affairs, but I just want to know how the people (employees and their families) are living as normal Americans. I just want to get what they get, I want to eat what they eat, I want to drink what they drink, and I want […]
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Trip to Hawaii
Waikiki Beach I was in Honolulu this week. It’s completely a private trip. I had 40,000 miles of my Northwest WorldPerks mileage program, which was enough for trip from Tokyo to Hawaii. It was my first time to go on a visit to Hawaii. When I was a small child, going to Hawaii was a prize beyond people’s reach. Since Japanese Yen was very weak (1$=over 250JPY!) and an airfare was very high twenty years ago, it was only rich people or first-prize winners of a quiz TV program that could trip to Hawaii. For the common people like us, Hawaii was just a dream. But today, almost everybody in […]