-
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, […]
-
Festivals in spring
I went out and walked around various places in the cherry blossom season this year. Here are some of the pics.
-
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 […]
-
Ikego Heights
I went to Ikego Heights at Zushi, Kanagawa to enjoy its friendship festival on May 9. It’s my first time to visit Ikego. Ikego Heights is within a few minutes walk from Keikyu Jinmuji Station. That field was all that was open to public. All booths, playgrounds and demo sites were within the field. This is 1/2 chicken, which I buy every time I visit a US base. That tasted very good. This is nachos, a pickles and a cup of pineapple smoothies sold at another booth. One mistake: when I bought them, I was handed the nachos dish and the pickles from a salesgirl of the booth but the […]
-
Negishi Heights
I visited Negishi Heights today. At first it was scheduled to open to public last Saturday, but the festival was put off until the next day because of rain. Several US military bases are open in the spring season but I couldn’t go to most of them this year because I caught a cold in the base-open period. All I could go in this season was Atsugi NAF and Negishi. Here are some of the pictures of Negishi Heights Friendship Festival. Sparky's show from Masayuki Kawagishi on Vimeo. I uploaded a set of all of them on Flickr.
-
Atsugi Naval Air Facility
Spring is the best season to visit American military bases of the Kanto Plain. They are open to public to let people see cherry blossoms, see American buildings, and get American foods, drinks, T-shirts and goods. I enjoy feeling American taste every time I enter on base. The first gate-open in this year is NAF Atsugi. I uploaded a set of pictures on Flickr.
-
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 […]