My First Japanese Car

Another day in paradise... I took a walk after work yesterday. I made
my way out into the town outside Yokota. There wasn't much time.
Working 14 hour days doesn't leave you much free time. So I was off on
an unsuccessful quest for a Mos Burger. It was interesting wandering
back through Japanese neighborhoods after 14 years away. The thunk of
concrete tiles over the benjo ditches was a familiar sound as I strolled
along. This urban sprawl is quite different from Sasebo but still the
houses were familiar. They are all quite compact, looking almost
plastic. As I walked along I realized I knew what they looked like
inside as well. I wondered why I didn't feel more deeply connected.
Perhaps because the town is so different here. It's flat, not hilly.
No bays delineating it. It's a rather boring area in fact. Rather like
most Air Force bases in fact. Then I strode past an auto repair shop
and had to stop. There was a Diahatsu Minica parked inside. It looked
just like my first car in Japan back in 1986. I had to snap a photo,
which if anyone noticed would have seemed like a tourist snapping a shot
of a '78 Pinto I imagine. I wish I had the chance to wander around at
night and hit some bars. It would be interesting to see how many I'd be
booted politely out of for being gaijin.

Now I'm back in the J4 shop. I have no idea what my title is tonight.
It seems to change daily. I'm surprised how easily the shift to nights
has been. Tonight I am tasked with finding out inventory numbers on
dosimeters as related goodies. In military parlance I've been flicked
that booger. The challenge is that not everyone has 24 hour coverage
and frequently it is impossible to get good data on the night shift.
This has really been a learning experience for me. So, I sit here
running tasks to ground and wondering when the senior staff will
recognize their true temporary nature. I think they will milk this as
long as they can politically. It's rather sad.
The US Military has
done some wonderful things here and continues to. But we continue
trying to build this large and cumbersome command for an operation that
is winding down in scope. Still, we have delivered a significant amount
of HA/DR goods, cleared debris from the Sendai and Fukushima airports,
run search and rescue missions, surveyed the afloat debris field and and
are still clearing harbors of debris, all great and wonderful things.