Friends Indeed

Once a year, the naval bases at Ikego and Yokosuka open their gates to the Japanese public, where they can play carnival games, eat American food, and dance to live music. The Camp Adventure staff helps run the games (while getting paid a whopping $9/hour!), so I got to be a part of the whole “meeting of cultures” experience.

Each of the American staff worked a game with a Japanese citizen, who acted as an interpreter for the many participants who spoke only Japanese. (While all Japanese students are required to study English, many adults do not retain the knowledge. Kind of like most US adults and their high school Spanish.) Most of my coworkers spoke no English at all, so we amused ourselves by trying to win grand prizes on our own games. (We failed.) One, however, spoke some broken English, which resulted in a pleasant conversation. When I answered the question “Where are you from?” with “California,” his face lit up, and he continued to smile when I told him it was my first time in Japan. Nearly every Japanese person I’ve talked with has asked me if it is my first visiting the country, and they are always so excited to hear about all the exploring and adventuring I’ve done. They truly want visitors to experience everything they can about their homeland, as indicated by their frequent urgings to “enjoy.” At the end of the workday, my Japanese friend found me and bowed, thanking me for working and talking with him. So much gratitude for a 5 minute conversation.

Outside of the carnival booths, more friendships formed over the smallest of shared experiences. My personal favorite: For about two hours, a live band covered top 40 pop songs while a group of fifteen elderly Japanese women called the “Sparkling Spurs” performed line dance steps for the crowd. Picture the Electric Slide performed to “Low.” As in, “apple bottom jeans and boots with the fur” Low. Incredibly intriguing, absolutely hilarious. The music played on, and soon others joined in on the dancing, including a little two year-old boy, who spun and jumped around to the beat as if his life depended on it. One of the Sparkling Spurs branched off from her dance steps to groove with this little boy, forming the unlikeliest of friendships. Meanwhile, the lead singer of the band rocked out to Shakira’s “Waka Waka” and mingled in the crowd, stopping to dance with various people. I stopped for a second to take it in: a Japanese-American singer dancing with an African American woman while performing a song written by a Colombian woman, all while an old Japanese woman danced with a American baby boy. On a military base. To top it off, a fairly accurate Michael Jackson impersonator closed the musical acts for the day, wowing the crowd with his ultra slick dance moves and quick costume changes. A day full of happy encounters, that’s for sure.

It was wonderful to be a part of these unexpected interactions, and strange to think back and know that Friendship Day wouldn’t have happened a certain points in history, especially at an event sponsored by an American military instillation. Friends indeed.