Features
Yokosuka: When the U.S. Navy is your neighbor
For the people of Yokosuka, a medium-sized city on the western edge of Tokyo Bay in Kanagawa Prefecture, small town USA is not just a distant land seen in movies or holiday photos. It's next door, in the form of the largest U.S. Navy base in all of Asia.
With a new government in power seeking to review Japan's relationship with the United States, and the trouble that has surrounded American bases in Okinawa and their possible relocation, it's natural to ask how the people of this town and the base -- known as "Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka," or CFAY (pronounced see-fay) in Navy parlance -- get along.
The job of integrating the base -- with its 11 warships and 20,000 Americans embedded in the heart of Yokosuka's bustling urban waterfront -- into a surrounding community of some 420,000 Japanese falls primarily on the shoulders of base commander Capt. Daniel Weed, and it's one he says he deals with constantly.
"The greatest challenge (facing CFAY), as it was in 1945 and as it continues to be today, is to continue to integrate, understand and appreciate life and culture in Japan," says Weed, who also says that the Americans at Yokosuka are "members of (Japanese) society."
At first glance, the challenge seems a steep one. Past the front gates, CFAY is a small slice of America, albeit an America where people drive on the left and use Japanese coins in the vending machines. There's even a stretch of shopping street dubbed "Main Street USA," where one can grab a meal at Long John Silver's. Starbucks, Chili's Grill and Bar, and Dunkin' Donuts all dot the base's neighborhoods, proffering American comfort food for American dollars.
The restaurant chains join American elementary and high schools, a cinema, a supermarket stocking American foods and a car dealership selling American cars in making the base "a safe, comfortable place reminding us of home," as Weed puts it. That said, CFAY is doing a lot to make sure the people of Yokosuka do not see the base as alien and intimidating, as well as encouraging the Americans living there to see the entire city of Yokosuka as home.
CFAY holds some 2,200 open-base events annually, including Friendship Day and the Spring Festival, which draw about 62,000 and 50,500 visitors respectively, while U.S. personnel join members of the city council to tidy up local neighborhoods in something called the "Hancho Patrol." Meanwhile, some 30 percent of the American population lives off-base in Japanese communities. There is even a manga publication, distributed to the community, portraying the life of a Japanese-American sailor aboard the USS George Washington, entitled "Manga CVN 73."
Still, the relationship is not always a smooth one, and there have been violent incidents in Yokosuka involving U.S. personnel, including the murder of a local taxi driver by a U.S. sailor last year. Which is why, to guard against everything from cultural misunderstandings to such acts of violence, all newly arrived personnel and their families must undergo a five-day course on culture, life and law in Japan.
During the course, Weed himself fills new arrivals in on past violent incidents and reminds them in unequivocal terms that they are in Japan, and must follow Japanese laws and adapt to Japanese customs. Perhaps the climax of the course is a trip to Kamakura, when the newcomers are packed onto trains to get a hands-on introduction to everyday life in the country.
And despite all the American amenities available within CFAY, the servicemen and women say they "absolutely" feel they are living in a foreign country. U.S. Marine Sergeant Ay Yommalat, who arrived in Japan about four months ago, says the fact he was now living in Japan hit him on his trip to Kamakura, "Because there was culture shock."
Americans at CFAY are encouraged to get off the base and expose themselves to that sort of culture shock on a regular basis, from venturing into Yokosuka itself to trips all over Japan, from Okinawa to Hokkaido. According to U.S. Navy and Marine personnel interviewed by the Mainichi, these trips further afield serve as a way to cut through tension that may arise from violent incidents related to the base.
"Some (people) can see that it's not you, it's not everybody that causes all the ruckus ... They want to know more about Americans, because not everyone believes what's in the papers," says Petty Officer Second Class Evonne Hill, who has been in Japan for about two and a half years. "I believe they want to meet us as much as we want to meet them, so they can make ... their own decision if they're going to like us or if they're not."
Asked whether he felt any opposition to the American military presence in the city -- especially in the wake of criminal incidents carried in the Japanese media -- U.S. Marine Corporal Derrick Miller says, "On base, we see the protesters. It's not aimed at me directly, but (I see it)."
U.S. Navy Petty Officer First Class Antonia Brown, who was posted to Okinawa from 2001 to 2003, says she "heard a lot of things (like), 'They don't want us here,' but I didn't experience any issues. Same thing here. You can see (protesters) out by the gate, but from what I can see it's a small amount of people compared to (the general population)."
The changing size of protests over the years would seem to support that conclusion. According to Weed, when the USS Midway -- the first U.S. aircraft carrier to be based in Yokosuka -- arrived in 1973, some 30,000 protesters came out to tell the ship it wasn't welcome in Japan. When the USS George Washington arrived in 2008 as the first nuclear-powered vessel to take up station at the base, however, there were just 93 protesters.
Weed is particularly proud of CFAY's relationship with the people of Yokosuka when compared to the "adversarial" situation between U.S. bases in Okinawa and communities there.
However, while the base and its personnel appear to be making all the right gestures, is the community content to have such a large foreign military presence right next door? Certainly Yokosuka depends on CFAY economically, and the downtown area is awash in signs and services in English trying to attract American customers.
"If Yokosuka didn't have a military base, it would be broke," says Aoi Tominaga, a saleswoman for estate agent Shinwa Housing, which offers apartments for Americans living off-base. The manager of a 7-11 two blocks from CFAY's main gates sounds a similar note, saying, "All of us around here can eat because the base is there."
Asked if the local community had any trouble with the base or its American population, Tominaga says that "some people have problems." Relations with Japanese neighbors can be difficult, she says, particularly if American residents treat them without due respect and consideration. However, she also points out that the five-day cultural orientation course for new arrivals at CFAY seems to play a big part in smoothing relations.
Atsushi Nagatsuka, owner of a small shop selling liquor and American snack foods close to the CFAY perimeter, also mentioned the orientation course, and says that the Americans in Yokosuka "aren't much different than Japanese." Though he says he wishes there was "more exchange" between Japanese and Americans, his greatest base-related problem is high school-aged shoplifters, and has little trouble with military personnel. The new groups of Americans that regularly arrive in the city "sometimes cause problems... but they get better," Nagatsuka says.
"We have to continue to educate the very large population that arrives every year," says Weed of the flow of new personnel. "That is our biggest challenge, both near and far term. We can never stop educating," which gets to the root of the remaining barriers between American base and Japanese community.
Military life is transient, and every year new groups of Americans -- most in their late teens and early 20s -- arrive at Yokosuka postings. To make them comfortable, continuity with American life remains a high priority, but also results in a bifurcation between Yokosuka the base and Yokosuka the city, with a replica United States on one side of the wall and Japan on the other, despite the many Japanese employed at CFAY.
Nevertheless, cultural interaction remains one of the most attractive parts of a Yokosuka posting for many Americans, who see it as a golden chance to broaden their experience. After being posted back to the United States in 2003, "I was definitely ready to come back (to Japan)," says Brown. "One of the ... driving forces for me to come back is my children, to get them submerged in the culture, to experience something different."
"There are a lot of different ways to discover things about yourself and about Japan," Weed says. And while neither Weed nor the people of Yokosuka would claim that the situation is perfect and everyone is happy, in terms of getting along with the neighbors, the effort CFAY has put into encouraging its personnel to take advantage of that opportunity appears to have benefitted both the base and the Japanese community. (By Robert Irvine, staff writer)
(Mainichi Japan) November 11, 2009
