Cherry Blossoms and Empires

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom. The weather has warmed up. The grass is beginning to turn green. Today we had a huge thunderstorm. Spring has arrived to the Kanto Plain. It seems fitting that, with the change from winter to spring, the Joint Support Force for Operation Tomodachi begins to draw down. Many personnel have departed already. The main focus of operations is now transition. Not a simple return to the USFJ structure pre-quake, instead a slightly beefed up HQ will remain. The need remains for better consequence management for US bases here on Honshu.

We have done some good work here both is providing humanitarian assistance as well as assisting the government of Japan with options for managing the disaster at Fukushima. Having lived in Japan for a number of years I was more than happy to jump into this fray. But… still having such a large force in Japan so long after 1945 is a bit disconcerting. It is yet more proof that the US is an empire. During the operation, personnel had to be reminded repeatedly to remove the word “Foreign” from “Foreign Humanitarian Assistance” in briefings. The correct term was to be simply “Humanitarian Assistance”. After all, we are the foreigners here, we should not be briefing the Japanese, stating we are providing Foreign Humanitarian Assistance. Walking the halls of USFJ I have glanced numerous times at the paintings that line the walls. They are like the paintings in any military HQ. Tonight though, it struck me how bizarre it must be for the Japanese SDF Officers walking these halls. We are in Japan and lining our walls are paintings of Navy Wildcat fighters scrambling on Saipan to attack the Japanese as well as Naval engagements from the Pacific war. I suddenly wondered how the Japanese must feel seeing paintings of their defeat on proud display in their own country. Only an empire would have the balls to pull that.

Random Thoughts about Japan during Operation Tomodachi

And my food for today you ask? Yesterday on my way back to base after practicing Tai Chi by the river I stopped by a bread shop and picked up a blueberry pastry and then headed over to Seiju Dept Store. Like most large Japanese Dept stores the
first floor is a grocery store. I picked out a ramen sandwich, a small serving of sticky rice topped with salmon and black sesame, a bowl of siamen noodles and a pack of Mochi pastries. I am about the only one here than brings my own lunch. I also brought a liter of water a Georgia MAX Coffee (can of coffee made by Coke) and a Japanese energy drink: Oronami C Drink. This is pretty typical. I figure since I’m over here I should eat off the economy as much as possible. It beats eating mid-rats at the galley. I can only eat so many ham and cheese omelets, chicken cordon blue and canned/frozen carrots, Brussels sprouts, squash, etc. About the only
really stellar food at the galley is the soft serve ice cream, or as one of my friends refers to it… auto dog.
Just before I finished my watch yesterday I was having a conversation with toe people on the oncoming watch. One is a LtCOL that is part of the full time USFJ staff. He is one of the people who was scrambling to react to the emergency from day 1 and attempting how to organize all the augmentees before JTF 519 showed up two weeks later. Talking to him I realized all my frustration with JTF 519 should be set aside. My real focus needs to be on USFJ and providing them feedback necessary to move ahead of this as an organization. I have seen how the JTF works in crisis and am not impressed. USFJ on the other hand has done amazingly well considering their significant limitations. So for my last week here that will be my focus.
Just had another earthquake (I wrote that a few days ago). It didn’t shake much. I was looking at my computer screen and it seemed as if my vision were a bit off. Then I realized it was a small tremor…at least small here at Yokota. Well it turns out the “little” quake was a 7.4 off Sendai! Luckily it was 40 km deep so hopefully it won’t cause another submarine landslide and tsunami. Well it’s been a half hour and no tsunami so we’re good! Peoples reaction to this post on FB has been amusing. Some are amazed that a 7.4 could be considered an aftershock or can’t understand my understated reaction. Seriously though it was no big deal way down here in Yokota. The shaking was nominal. 40 Km deep is really very deep. My personal worry is for Alaska and California. We’ve had multiple quakes around the edges of the Pacific plate (Chili, New Zealand, Baja California, Japan and major volcanic developments on Hawaii. It’s clear the plate is making some major movements. Who knows where it will settle out?
More Random Thoughts…

• After my visit to Kamakura I realize just how provincial Fussa is... Too bad.
• When did it become fashionable for Japanese girls to wear incredibly short shorts with stockings in the winter? Isn’t that cold?
• I am amazed how isolated Americans willingly keep themselves when in foreign lands. I was speaking with a Colonel yesterday and mentioned I didn’t want to move to the other side of the base because it’s too far from the main gate. She then asked almost incredulously if I had been off post. WTF? Don’t these people know too much time on post leads to insanity? The really sad part is how common it is for the military to remain voluntarily cooped up on bases.
• Walking around Shinto shrines from the Middle Ages while listening to NIN and Primus is a very surreal experience.

• Japanese are fun people to party with. They have a great since of humor and are quite generous.
• Mr. Donut still makes the most amazing buttermilk old fashioned chocolate dipped donuts on the planet!! They melt in your mouth and are just sweet enough without being sickly. I’ll take one of these over anything Crispy Cream can produce any day!!

• For a people living in very dense towns the Japanese are amazingly well integrated into nature. Community gardens abound, nature trails abound, I am quite content here.

Kamakura, Thank You

Humanity accidentally crept into the operational rhythm here this week. We have been granted a one shift break, possibly our only break. They staggered the days off to minimize the impact and based it on the last time we had a day off. For me it was 6 March, so after working for 27 days, much of it 13+ hour shifts, I had a free day. Now when you are on night shift a free day is an odd bit of time to work with. I figured I could spend a night partying in Tokyo or head down to Kamakura to visit an old shipmate from the USS St Louis. I chose the latter. So after my shift Sunday morning I slept for four hours then got up and headed to the train station.

Kamakura is not all that far from Yokota but with three train changes it still takes more than two hours to get there. Arriving early afternoon with several hours before I was going to meet up with Bill I wandered around a few of the temples and shrines I hadn’t visited in 15 years. Then I found a long hiking trail and took a peaceful walk through the woods. Japan is covered with these trails. Most lead to small shrines at mountain tops. It was a wonderful hike with only a small number of others on the trail. When I finally finished it was time to head to the beach and a liquor store where I was to meet Bill. I found it easily enough and when I approached a Japanese woman met me and excitedly told me Bill was in the back cooking (near as I can tell anyway since I don’t speak Japanese). It was nice seeing an old friend after so long. We eventually headed to the store where several friends were drinking and talking. Apparently they’ve been doing this for years and refused to let the rolling blackouts interfere, good on them!


It’s interesting being thrown into a conversation where very little is being said in English. It certainly helped me to begin remembering what little Japanese I once knew. The really nice thing about being there was hearing how much the Japanese people appreciate all the US Military has done to assist with this catastrophe. As much as I have issues with the way this HQ is being organized and run we really have done a great deal to avert suffering... well perhaps not the HQ but the military in general certainly has.

I spent the night at Bill’s and in the morning I borrowed his beach cruiser and randomly rode around town. For lunch we met back up and ate the best sushi I’ve had since I left Japan back in ’97. Then we had coffee in a local shop and ran into a city council member who also expressed his gratitude. I finally started back around 2:30 and made it just in time for my shift.


That little foray down to Kamakura made all the 13 hour shifts worthwhile. I’m glad I went that route rather than a drunken night in Ropongi or Shibuya. Still… if I have more time off before I depart… I’m thinking Shibuya.

Expat Memories

Yesterday I finally found something I was afraid I’d lost. I rediscovered Japan in a sense. I had about two hours between work and bedtime (10:00 AM). I decided to walk to the river. So I left the base and followed the road past the main train station. It’s interesting seeing how Japanese towns are put together. Lots of small two story houses packed closely together, narrow roads without sidewalks, frequent breaks in the clutter for small community gardens. When I arrived at the river I found there was a small park above the bank with walking trails running both directions. There were only a few old men in the park, some stretching, others chatting with one another. I took the opportunity to practice Tai Chi Chuan. That always relaxes me and generally puts me in a good mood. Tai Chi next to a river is even better.
After exercising I walked along one of the trails for perhaps a mile or two before deciding to head back toward base. On the way I began to rediscover memories. I love the way community gardens are interspersed among the ad-hoc urban sprawl. I wandered into a Buddhist shrine and took some photos. Stores I had forgotten like Sega World, Mos Burgers (home of the awesome yakiniku rice burger) and The Italian Tomato. As I walked and explored I had the feeling of coming home. I was not seeing things as a Giajin, I was seeing the familiar. As much as I stand out among the Japanese I still feel at ease here, at home. I also noticed when off base I automatically bow more and am more polite. Funny how quickly that returns.
So I continue to plug away on the night shift… the 14 hour night shift… but now I know what I need to do in my few free hours away from this office. I need to rediscover my one time home.

Circadian Rhythms

As I lay in my cot this morning I found myself wondering about the hours I’m working and how my body responds to it. Now mind you this morning was 4:30 PM as I woke to get ready for the night shift and a 14 hour day. I’ve not managed more than 6 hours sleep any night since I left the states. As I think back that is about the best I did when shipboard as well. It struck me that when I am working at my civilian job I need at least 7 hours to focus at work. This baffles me a bit. This job is much longer and more stressful than my other job. Why do I require less sleep? In fact why or how was I able to switch gears to nights without missing a beat? Odd.
The focus here at Op Tomodachi HQ is shifting, finally. What we all recognized at the working level is finally being voiced at the flag level… well at least an aspect of it is. The HA/DR mission here is evaporating as the Government of Japan has increased ability to distribute aid. We are still in the thick of it for the remediation of nuclear disaster though. So, what do you do with a growing organization when the main focus of your efforts begins to melt away like so many spent fuel rods. Well you invent a mission of course! We are beginning to focus on plans for worst case scenarios. Now, before you go off the deep end, please remember worst case by definition is a VERY unlikely event. It assumes all hell breaks loose. If we get asked tomorrow what contingency plans we have for the arrival of Godzilla it wouldn’t surprise me at all. What we are considering is, if some of the reactors go into full melt mode and spew nasty little isotopes, and the wind shifts and blows out of the N.E. for days what will we do about all the military personnel stationed on the Kanto Plain. This is probably useful from a planning standpoint but from experience we have never funded a worst case scenario plan. It’s rather like stocking you very own bomb shelter with enough food to outlast a Dr Strangelove scenario… interesting academic exercise but no, not gonna throw cold hard cash at that!

Not sure where this leaves me and my peers wondering about the end of this operation. It seems to me to be something of a “make work” plan to keep us gainfully employed while they decide when it is politically acceptable to admit that the Japanese don’t need us as much as we’d like to think they do. In the mean time I’ll continue plugging away in this zone where days loose shape and sleep seems unimportant.

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.

Dinner for Breakfast

The only constant here at JSFJ (Joint Support Force Japan) is change. I
arrived thinking I'd be the Fuels Officer. That never materialized.
Instead I was instructed to improve (fix) communication between USFJ (US
Forces Japan) and C7F (US Navy 7th Fleet). That was not too difficult.
Got good communication channels open and wondered what my job was. I
was next told I was the JFMCC LNO - basically the Liaison Officer at
USFJ representing the fleet. That lasted for a day or two... bear with
me on this days just melt together when you're working 14+ hour shifts.
Anyway I arrived this morning at 06:30 and just before 10:00 was told to
go get some sleep. I am now the head of the Sustainment Cell on nights
in the J4 shop. Wow, I actually have some people working for me now.
Still no one to explain what exactly is expected though.

So the posturing and reorganizing continue as two commands try to merge
on the fly with a rapidly evolving HA/DR effort.

The navy folks I have been working with stand out. I've noticed we are
the only ones around here routinely laughing. It's not that we consider
this petty or worse, don't understand the gravity of it. I think it's
just because we are sailors, it is normal for us to make light of
serious situations.


This entire operation is a grand learning experience for me. The
politics are annoying. But, the dynamic of the evolving organization is
fascinating... knowing our mission is short lived while we evolve as if
it is for the long haul is a strange thing to watch. One of the Naval
Officers I have been hanging out observed that when we (the Navy) went
to OIF and OEF (Iraq/Afghanistan) we were not in a joint environment, we
were in an Army environment. This is a true joint environment. I think
the flags immediately above we are an Air Force one star and Navy one
star. I haven't seen a good org chart so I really can't explain it for
certain. Still, this is kind of weird. It is causing me to think hard
about my recall to the AF/PAK Hands program... which is apparently back
on.


One of the things the public at large does not understand is how
donations can't simply flow seamlessly into disaster stricken areas. It
is a complicated business to be sure. A steamship line just approached
us with a request to distribute 14 TEU's (7 ea. 40' ocean containers) of
supplies. The sent this request to the Host Nations Relation Officer at
one of our bases. This request should have gone directly to either the
Japanese government (GOJ) or to the JSDF (Japan Self Defense Forces -
Japan's Military). Those are the groups with the authority to accept
donations, especially from Japanese companies! What I don't think many
fully grasp is that the US is not the one deciding what should be
delivered where. That is a Japanese decision. This is not Ache
province after the Indian Ocean tsunami or Haiti after their quake.
This is a 1st world country where civil order is still well established
and a fully functioning government exists.


The New Face of Empire
It struck me as I walked to work this morning that Empire has a whole
new face. Now, mind you I already knew that but what was different this
morning was how the thought resonated as I was making my way to USFJ -
US Forces Japan. Here I am in a sovereign country. By nominal per
capita GDP they rank 17th or 18th globally. That is pretty significant.
Anyway, here I am walking and thinking... how many countries have a
combined military HQ for a foreign military located near their capitol?
Chine did at one point, recall the Boxer Rebellion? India did before
that pesky Gandhi guy screwed it all up. My point being this should not
be acceptable by a sovereign government. If they are sovereign what is
the need of a large foreign military presence?

So America, face the facts, we are an Empire and have been one since the
close of the Spanish American War of 1898. Just because we don't call
Japan, Kuwait, Germany, Iraq, England, Spain, Italy, Columbia, South
Korea, Afghanistan and a host of others colonies does not change the
reality on the ground. If you are pro colonialism feel free to revel in
it. If you believe in self determination organize... but then again if
you believe in self determination it probably best to get your own house
in order first.