Message in a bottle

In March 2006, the sixth graders at an elementary school in Kagoshima, Japan wrote notes and put them into glass bottles along with photographs or whatever they decided.

Then they dropped the time-capsule bottles into the ocean.

This was done because in Japan the school year ends in March and sixth grade is the last year of elementary school…so those kids would move onto to junior high school the following month.

It took five-and-a-half years but last week an American sailor with the U.S. Navy found one of the bottles washed up on shore in Hawaii.
Inside was a note written by, then twelve-year-old, Saki Arikawa that said it was an “elementary school graduation memory”, a few origami cranes and a photograph of Saki and her classmates.

The photo of Saki Arikawa and her sixth-grade classmates that was in the time-capsule bottle

When a news reporter contacted Saki Arikawa to tell her that the bottle had been discovered in Hawaii, she said it was an “incredible miracle” because she had long given up hope that it would ever be found by anyone.

Saki and her classmates are all seventeen years old and will be graduating from high school next March. But after the news of the bottle’s discovery, Saki had a reunion with her sixth grade teacher and some of her classmates…all of whom had not seen each other since March 2006.

Now, Saki said, she would like to meet the kind American sailor who found her bottle.

えひめ丸

Yesterday was the eighth anniversary of the sinking of the えひめ丸 (Ehime-maru).

Do you know about this news?

If you were in Japan in 2001 you do, I’m sure. And probably if you were in the U.S. Navy or in Hawaii at the time, you know about it too.

The えひめ丸 (Ehime-maru) was a Japanese high-school fishing training vessel from 愛媛県 (Ehime Prefecture, Japan).

(Many ships in Japan have 丸 (Maru) as part of their name. This is because maru means “circle” in Japanese, so it implies the ship will always make round-trips…never one-way.)

In February 2001, the えひめ丸 (Ehime-maru) was near Pearl Harbor, Hawaii with a crew of 35 people…twenty boat crew, thirteen high school students who were studying to become fishermen, and two teachers.

Unbeknown to them, the U.S.S. Greeneville, a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered attack submarine captained by Commander Scott Waddle, was under the water below them. Some of the U.S.S. Greeneville‘s sonar equipment was damaged and they didn’t know the えひめ丸 (Ehime-maru) was above them.

Onboard the U.S.S. Greeneville were “distinguished guests“…mostly politicians and journalists.

Cmdr. Waddle decided to demonstrate an “emergency main ballast blow” for his guests. This is a technique for a submarine to quickly surface in an emergency by forcing water from the sub’s ballasts with high-pressure air.

As the submarine’s sonar was damaged, Cmdr. Waddle checked the surface of the water for any ships by simply using the sub’s periscope. He didn’t see the えひめ丸 (Ehime-maru) above them.

So, from a depth of 120 meters (almost 400 feet), the U.S.S. Greeneville performed an “emergency ballast blow” and flew to the surface in a matter of seconds…and crashed into the えひめ丸 (Ehime-maru), sinking it.

Nine people, including four high-school students, were unable to escape and died.

In Japanese culture, it would be very important for all involved to personally apologize to the victims’ families…but the U.S. Navy forbade Cmdr. Waddle from formally apologizing.
The U.S. Navy issued a public statement expressing their regret for the incident.

But the victims’ families were disappointed by the results of the U.S. Navy’s hearing that found Cmdr. Waddle guilty of professional neglect and his punishment was simply a half-month’s pay for two months and suspension of his pay for six months, as well as a verbal reprimand in which his “resignation was expected”.

After Cmdr. Waddle resigned from the Navy, though, he made a trip to Japan on his own and personally apologized to the families of the victims. His apology was sincere and earned him the respect of the Japanese people.

The bodies of all who died on the えひめ丸 (Ehime-maru) were recovered…except one. The body of 水口峻志 (Takeshi Mizuguchi), who celebrated his seventeenth birthday in Hawaii just two days before he died, is the only one divers were unable to find.
They did find his digital camera, though. And scientists were able to recover the photos on the camera’s photo-card. These photos include images of the boy celebrating his birthday, hauling a shark he caught onto the ship, and some others.

Understandably, the parents of the boy treasured these photos and kept them private. But the parents, who are in Hawaii for a memorial service for the victims of the えひめ丸 (Ehime-maru), decided yesterday to release some of the images from their son’s camera for public viewing.

I would like to see them when they’re shown in Tokyo.

The father of 水口峻志 (Takeshi Mizuguchi).

Some news

• Air India flight 307 left 成田空港 (Narita Airport in Chiba (near Tokyo)) for India on Sunday, 21 September 2008 but had to return to Narita because parts of the engine fell off…and struck two parked cars near the airport.One piece of debris sliced through the wind-shield of a car like butter. Luckily noone was hurt.
• The American Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, U.S.S. George Washington, is scheduled to arrive in Japan tomorrow to commence being homeported in 横須賀 (Yokosuka (south of Tokyo)).A large number of protesters are expected to greet the ship because many Japanese are against having a nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ship even visit Japan, not to mention being stationed here.

  

• On Monday, 22 September 2008 (two days after his 68th birthday), 麻生太郎 (Tarou ASOU) was chosen to be the new Prime Minister of Japan.

  

  (My post about the former Prime Minister, 福田康夫 (Yasuo FUKUDA), resigning on Sept 1st is here).

US Base Attacked

The U.S. Navy Base in 神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa-prefecture) south of Tokyo was attacked by two rocket bombs last Friday evening.

Noone was hurt. But police suspect it was an attack by activists who are against the American nuclear-powered aircraft-carrier, U.S.S. George Washington, being stationed there starting later this month.

(I wrote a post about this ship coming to Japan here
(I also mentioned it in a few other posts. If you want to see them, you can use the Search function on this blog. A search for posts on my blog “USS George Washington” can be accessed here )).

+++
Speaking of 神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa-prefecture)…if you visit that town, the US Navy base is in 神奈川県横須賀市本町 (Honcho, Yokosuka-ward, Kanagawa-prefecture).
The closest train stations are JR 横須賀駅 (Yokosuka JR Station), 京浜急行汐入駅 (Keihin-kyuukou Shioiri Station), or 京浜急行横須賀中央駅 (Keihin-kyuukou Yokosuka-chuo Station).
You probably wouldn’t be allowed inside the American base (unless it’s a day of one of their “Friendship Festivals“), but the street across from the base (that many American sailors mistakenly call “The Honch” (because the town’s name is 本町 (Honcho)) is ドブイタ・ストリート (Dobuita Street) with many shops and restaurants that are unique to the area.

神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa-prefecture) is famous for 海軍カレー (Navy Curry) because the Japanese Navy (which also has a base there) brought curry from India to Yokosuka.

Another thing that 神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa-prefecture) is famous for are the popular スカジャン (‘Suka-jyan). Which are souvenir 神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa-prefecture) jackets that were popular with the U.S. Military but it’s now mostly Japanese people who buy them.

There’s also 猿島 (Saru-shima (which translates to Monkey Island…but there are no monkeys there anymore)), which can be accessed by ferry.
And 三笠公園 (Mikasa Park) with the Japanese battleship Mikasa that you can take a tour of.

ニュース

Today and tomorrow we are taking my oldest daughter to look at a few high schools to help us decide which one she should go to next Spring (she’ll start 高校一年 (10th grade (first year of high school in Japan)) in April).

In December, she’ll begin taking high school entrance exams! (Next year, my 2nd daughter will do the same…then the youngest after that!)
They grow up too fast!

++++

Yesterday we went to 銀座 (Ginza) and 上野 (Ueno).
Near 銀座 (Ginza), I saw this 新幹線 (Bullet train) pass by (it was going past a train station, so it wasn’t moving so fast at the time):

And at 上野 (Ueno), we went to a junk-food store that sold ラムネ (Ramune), which is a popular (especially in the summer) carbonated drink in Japan.
It has a distinctive bottle with a marble in the neck.
It usually has a lemon flavor…but this store had many odd flavors and there was a sign that said 「まずいラムネランキング」 (“Top Ten Worst Ramune Flavors”)!

Some of the まずいラムネ (Worst Ramune Flavors) included
“Wasabi Ramune“, “Curry Ramune“, and “Takoyaki Ramune“…but the “#1 Worst Flavor” was 「キムチ・ラムネ」 (“Kimchee Ramune”)!

So I had to buy it!

I’ve haven’t tried it yet. I’ll let you know how it is.
(Actually, I really like 「キムチ」 (Kimchee)…(spicy, Korean cabbage). So I’m wondering how this drink tastes.)

From there, we went to a カラオケボックス (“Karaoke Box”), which is a private room for singing Karaoke (you can also order food and drinks from a menu and they’re brought up to the room you’re in).

I’m a terrible singer…but my kids enjoy it.

++++
In the news,

• A wild monkey got into busy 渋谷駅 (Shibuya Train Station) in Tokyo. Over thirty police officers attempted to capture it, but the monkey managed to flee the train station.There are wild 日本猿 (Japanese monkeys) in the countryside but in the city they’re usually only seen in the zoos.
• The American Navy’s nuclear aircraft carrier, U.S.S George Washington, will be stationed in 神奈川県横須賀市 (Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture) soon. There are a number of Japanese people who are against the ship coming here, mainly because it’ll be the first nuclear-powered ship to be stationed in Japan.The fact that there was a fire onboard the carrier last Spring compounded their worries.
  (You can read my earlier post about the USS George Washington coming to Japan).

  And now, it’s been reported, two sailors from the ship have been arrested last weekend in California, USA for murder!

Nuclear Warship

The American Navy’s aircraft carrier, USS Kitty Hawk, just left Japan where it was stationed south of Tokyo for the past ten years. The Kitty Hawk will be decommisioned.

In the past 25 years, there have only been three aircraft carriers stationed in Japan…the USS Midway, then the Midway was replaced by the USS Independence (which was bigger), then the Independence was replaced by the even bigger USS Kitty Hawk (which is the ship that just left).

I’ve been in Japan long enough to have seen all of those carriers.

Now, the ship that is set to replace the Kitty Hawk is the USS George Washington.

Many of the people who live near the US Navy base are protesting the arrival of this ship (which is due here this August).

There are mainly two reasons that they don’t want this ship to come to Japan.

The main reason is that the George Washington is a nuclear powered aircraft carrier. Japan has a rule that ships that are nuclear (including both nuclear armed and nuclear powered) are not permitted in Japan.

But somehow the US government has convinced the Japanese government that it’s necessary to have this ship stationed in Japan.

The other reason is that the USS George Washington is even larger than the Kitty Hawk. This means that there will be an increase in the number of American sailors stationed in Yokosuka…

and it also means that the berthing dock meant for the carrier will need to be excavated to make it large enough for the ship. This, some residents fear, will damage the marine eco-system.

横浜

Yesterday was the last day of my kids’ Spring Vacation from school. Today’s the first day of the new school year.

So, yesterday, we decided to go to Yokohama again.

Actually, we originally planned to go to the “Friendship Day Festival” at the US Navy base. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there. But we heard that they were canceling the event due to the recent crimes by US servicemen.
Since we were gonna go down to 神奈川県 (Kanagawa), we decided to re-visit Yokohama.

As I mentioned in the post below, we hadn’t been to Yokohama in awhile and alot has changed there over the years. And the last time we went, we didn’t have time to visit all the places we wanted to go.

So, yesterday, we went to the 「横浜アンパンマンこどもミュージアム」 (“Yokohama Anpanman Children’s Museum”).

“Anpanman” is a Japanese young children’s cartoon character of a superhero made of bean-stuffed bread named “Anpan-man” (“Bean-paste Bread Man”). He, and his friends (who are all different food characters), battle the villians who are led by “Baikinman” (“Germ Man”) using good nutrition, soap, and kindness (it is a cartoon for young children, after all).

My kids have long outgrown any interest in Anpanman. So we didn’t go into the museum…but visited the bread store and gift shops.

Here’s a picture of some bread made in the image of some of the characters from the show:

After we left there, we walked past a road that is semi-famous in Yokohama because it has a wall the entire length of the road that is covered in elaborate graffiti.

Here are a bit of the art that caught my attention:

From there, we headed over to a park and ate a picnic lunch that my wife and daughters prepared and then we walked over to the 野毛山動物園 (“Nogeyama Zoo”).

The 横浜動物園 (“Yokohama Zoo”) is the main zoo in Yokohama and it’s a great zoo. But the Nogeyama Zoo is nice too…and it’s free!

For a free zoo, I was surprised how nice it is, actually. They have reptiles, birds, penguins, monkeys, giraffes, tigers, lions (the male lion had died recently), a camel and a petting zoo with small animals (chicks, guinea pigs, mice, etc) that kids can hold.

It was nice and we enjoyed it.

After we left the zoo, we went to 山下公園 (“Yamashita Park”). We hadn’t been there in years…I was surprised that they built a convenience store there. It’s a good location for one, though. I bet they get alot of customers.

“Yamashita Park” is near 横浜中華街 (“Yokohama Chinatown”), so we headed there.

Near Chinatown, there were many 人力車 (“Rick shaw”) drivers offering rides around the area (Rick-shaw can be found in many traditional areas of Japan offering rides to tourists). (“Rick-shaw”, by the way, comes from the Japanese word 人力車 (jin-riki-sha ) which translates, literally, to “Man powered vehicle”).

Here’s the entrance to Chinatown (can you tell the difference between Japanese and Chinese style? Both countries have torii gates, temples, shrines, paper lanterns, etc…but they look quite different.):

A closer look:

After we looked around Chinatown a bit, we went for dinner at a favorite restaurant of ours and then headed home.

The girls had school in the morning.

Time flies by!

This is the last couple days of my kids’ school Spring Break.

In Japan, the school year ends in March and the new one begins in April…so on Monday, my kids will be in 6th, 8th, and 9th grades (actually they’re called: Grades 小６年、中2年、 and 中３年 (“Elem 6th”, “Jr High 2nd”, and “Jr High 3rd” grades). In Japan, elementary school is grades 1 – 6, the junior high is grades 1 – 3, and high school is also grades 1 – 3.

I can’t believe how fast they grow up!

Next March (2009), my youngest will graduate from elementary school, and my oldest kid will graduate from junior high (Japan has Graduations and Opening Ceremonies for every school a child attends…from pre-school to college).

Then, next April (2009), my oldest will start high school. So this year she’ll be taking “high school entrance exams”. Not only college, but Japanese high schools also have entrance exams.

Stressful.

**************************************

In the news, there have been alot of violent crimes against Japanese people commited by American military servicemen stationed in Japan.

It doesn’t help the image of foreigners in Japan.

The most recent was a sailor in the US Navy stationed near Tokyo who stabbed a taxi driver in the neck with a kitchen knife.

Then there was the case in Okinawa in which a group of children of US servicemen attacked and robbed taxi drivers.

And a 14-year old school girl in Okinawa claimed an American Marine raped her.

There have been numerous other cases like these over the years…but it seems like there’s been a rash of them recently.

Hopefully, the pattern stops.

**************************************

Here’s a couple more videos I put onto my YouTube page (they’re both very short…and not very high quality. I’ll try to put better videos up in the future):

A sumo match at the 国技館 (I took this video with my cell-phone camera…it’s much clearer on a small phone screen):

And here’s a short clip of 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery). It’s hard to capture with a camera…it goes by quickly—but “Yabusame” is very fun to watch. You should check it out in person if you ever get a chance (it happens a few times a year in Japan…actually one is coming up this month):