I remember once visiting the Japanese/American parents of a fellow soldier I served with. I THINK his name was Jim, but I'm not positive without actually digging through some old papers and stuff.
Anyway, we had laid over at Fort Lewis, Washington on our way up to Fort Greeley, Alaska for Arctic Warfare School.
Jim's folks lived in Seattle and we had been given the weekend to ourselves because our MAC flight out didn't leave until Monday morning...so he, myself and two other buddiess who didn't just want to hit bars and clubs rented a car and surprised his folks at their door late that Friday night!
This kid's parents had him late in life and he was their only child. They were second generation Japanese/Americans and had met in an Internment camp during WWII as little kids in California. Both their fathers had served honorably in Europe in the US Army, both being wounded in Italy. Jim's dad was a pretty high muckyity-muck at Boeing and their giant house in the hills above Seattle showed it!
Yet they weren't pretentious at all, if fact, just the opposite. They differed to us in every way during our visit. It was almost embarrassing and I wasn't used to it at all. They were VERY proud of their son being in the Army and welcomed us all with open arms as though we were long lost sons.
Our surprise visit happened to coincide with the annual (late April) weekend celebration of the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival and parade so they woke us up early (uggghhh, so much for a day off) and fed us breakfast. It was traditional Japanese meal of Kellog's corn flakes, bananas and half a grape fruit. We were then told to wash up after which we were hustled out by the parents to go somewhere downtown.
It was great! I had never seen anything like it. The dancing girls in the street in all the beautiful kimonos and fans.
[attachment 12134 JapWomenDancersinKimonos.jpg]
There were several taiko drum performances that were nothing short of incredible. You could actually feel the drums beating in your chest...and how some of those girls could keep beating those giants things astounded me.
[attachment 12135 JapTaikoDrummers.jpg]
Some of the other cool stuff I remember was the giant paper dragons that dozens of young men would swirl throught the streets with hundreds of firecrackers going off under their feet and cimbals and bells clanging up a storm as they passed.
[attachment 12136 JapDragon.jpg]
Japanese farmers and fishermen in traditional costumes were there, plus lots of Karate, Judo, Aikido and end Kendo (a sort of sword fighting with bamboo swords) demonstrations.
Oh, and who can forget all the various and abundant kinds of different but cool food to eat...and traditional Japanese music blaring everywhere?!! Man! We stuffed our faces and never paid a penny because we were in uniform. They wouldn't let us pay and frowned real big if we kept offering to do so. So we just gave up and enjoyed ourselves as only starving young soldiers can.
An added benefit (?) of being in uniform was that we often got pulled into the parade and even on the sidewalks to dance briefly with some young ladies and once with some Japanese fellas in peasant costumes...that was fun too, but got more and more difficult the more beers we had, which only seemed to spur the revelors on to involve us. We were amazed at how many people among the thousand there actually KNEW Jim and automatically passed his association on to us! No Cajun Fai Do Do had ANYTHING on this street party!
Late that afternoon we met back up with this fellow's parents. The festival would go on late into the night and through the next day. The parents took us down to the warfs where we visited the aquarium and then the fish market. His mom bought all sorts of stuff there and then we went home.
The father spoke to us while his wife prepared a traditional "formal" meal. We had marinated, but raw octopus strips and tentacles, tuna, salmon and squid. I learned that such fare is called sashimi, NOT sushi. Sushi means "with rice" and often doesn't even contain meat at all. Sushi is also usually served upon or wrapped in dried kelp and we had that as well. Surprisingly, though different, we tentatively at first, tried everything and truly LOVED it all! Nothing tasted slimey or fishy or anything you might have thought it would. It was simply great and I, for one, became hooked.
[attachment 12137 JapSashiminSake.jpg]
We were taught how to use chopsticks to eat everthing, even the rice, and also how to use raw ginger slices to enhance the flavors of the raw fish...and we learned the HARD WAY about using too much wasabi! I was asking for some Tabasco to drink to cool off my mouth!
We then had HUMONGOUS prawns and TWO inch thick Porterhouse steaks cooked on an open hibachi with onion slices, mangoes, pineapple and mandarin oranges.
[attachment 12138 JapSteakPrawn.jpg]
There was also rice, of course, and fresh stir-fried beans, pea pods and this hot spicy sprouts. Everything was washed down mostly with beer, but we did try some sake (rice wine). Sake doesn't taste like much but the alchohol content is pretty high, so we just each had a tiny cupful. It was enough as it REALLY kicked in the beer for ME, luckily I wasn't going anywhere soon...
For dessert we had Home-made All-American apple pie (almost 3 inches thick), that Jim's mom had stayed up late to bake the night before after we arrived (the crust alone was worth having), and home-churned ice cream of which we each had a LONG turn on the handle which helped take the buzz on the sake - even if a couple of us lost our grips on the handle during the early going!
During our entire evening, Jim's dad was always smiling and nodding his head while pushing the backs of his hands toward us to keep enjoying ourselves. His mother seemed to be bustling everywhere all the time stopping only to giggle behind her hand and bow whenever we complimented things or did something silly, which must have been pretty the more the evening progressed.
We stayed up late watching some family slides taken back in Japan on a vacation to their ancestor's village and countryside, which weren't boring at all, but we were pretty tired and dozy. Jim's mom came and rolled out the futons, pillow and blankets on tatami mats for us to sleep again. She was pretty bossy about shooing us away when we tried to help her do anything at all. We were more than ready to dive into our sacks and pass out...after just a leeetle bit more pie, ice cream and milk, though...of course.
We woke up late Sunday morning, ate breakfast again (toast, eggs and sausage links) and got dressed in our uniforms to go to church with his folks per their request. How do you say, "no?" Now get THIS...Jim's mom had steamed and ironed ALL our slacks and shirts and even even got all our nametags and ribbons back on in proper orders somehow. Even I screwed THAT up upon occassion - she was like some freaking fairy god-mother or something! After the service (it was all in Japanese, but we still somehow understood and even helped sing the hymns) we came back to the homestead, packed and then shifted uncomfortably as we watched his mom just bawl over us while his dad puffed out his chest and shook each of our hands like they were water pump handles as we all thanked them in turn and said, "good-bye."
[attachment 12139 JimsFolks.jpg]
When we went out to the car, there were a group of young ladies there on the drive (obviously on their way to the second half of the festival), being all dressed up in bright kimonos. They were waving little American flags and cheering. Four of them came forward and gave each of us a small bouquet of flowers and a soft kiss on our cheeks. We all preferred the kisses but asking for seconds didn't seem to be in order.
As we drove down the freeway on our way back to Fort Lewis we could see Mount Rainier on the horizon in all it's glory as the afternoon sun made the snow cap glow. Later that night we talked about nothing but what a great time we had had with this Japanese family and the people...so foreign, yet so loving and appreciative of America and us in uniform. But on that ride back, I don't remember a word one spoken as each of us were just lost in thought and missing home.
It's memories of times like those that keep my door and my heart open to any of our troops away from home and family whenever they may need or want it...especially over the holidays.
Anyway, we had laid over at Fort Lewis, Washington on our way up to Fort Greeley, Alaska for Arctic Warfare School.
Jim's folks lived in Seattle and we had been given the weekend to ourselves because our MAC flight out didn't leave until Monday morning...so he, myself and two other buddiess who didn't just want to hit bars and clubs rented a car and surprised his folks at their door late that Friday night!
This kid's parents had him late in life and he was their only child. They were second generation Japanese/Americans and had met in an Internment camp during WWII as little kids in California. Both their fathers had served honorably in Europe in the US Army, both being wounded in Italy. Jim's dad was a pretty high muckyity-muck at Boeing and their giant house in the hills above Seattle showed it!
Yet they weren't pretentious at all, if fact, just the opposite. They differed to us in every way during our visit. It was almost embarrassing and I wasn't used to it at all. They were VERY proud of their son being in the Army and welcomed us all with open arms as though we were long lost sons.
Our surprise visit happened to coincide with the annual (late April) weekend celebration of the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival and parade so they woke us up early (uggghhh, so much for a day off) and fed us breakfast. It was traditional Japanese meal of Kellog's corn flakes, bananas and half a grape fruit. We were then told to wash up after which we were hustled out by the parents to go somewhere downtown.
It was great! I had never seen anything like it. The dancing girls in the street in all the beautiful kimonos and fans.
[attachment 12134 JapWomenDancersinKimonos.jpg]
There were several taiko drum performances that were nothing short of incredible. You could actually feel the drums beating in your chest...and how some of those girls could keep beating those giants things astounded me.
[attachment 12135 JapTaikoDrummers.jpg]
Some of the other cool stuff I remember was the giant paper dragons that dozens of young men would swirl throught the streets with hundreds of firecrackers going off under their feet and cimbals and bells clanging up a storm as they passed.
[attachment 12136 JapDragon.jpg]
Japanese farmers and fishermen in traditional costumes were there, plus lots of Karate, Judo, Aikido and end Kendo (a sort of sword fighting with bamboo swords) demonstrations.
Oh, and who can forget all the various and abundant kinds of different but cool food to eat...and traditional Japanese music blaring everywhere?!! Man! We stuffed our faces and never paid a penny because we were in uniform. They wouldn't let us pay and frowned real big if we kept offering to do so. So we just gave up and enjoyed ourselves as only starving young soldiers can.
An added benefit (?) of being in uniform was that we often got pulled into the parade and even on the sidewalks to dance briefly with some young ladies and once with some Japanese fellas in peasant costumes...that was fun too, but got more and more difficult the more beers we had, which only seemed to spur the revelors on to involve us. We were amazed at how many people among the thousand there actually KNEW Jim and automatically passed his association on to us! No Cajun Fai Do Do had ANYTHING on this street party!
Late that afternoon we met back up with this fellow's parents. The festival would go on late into the night and through the next day. The parents took us down to the warfs where we visited the aquarium and then the fish market. His mom bought all sorts of stuff there and then we went home.
The father spoke to us while his wife prepared a traditional "formal" meal. We had marinated, but raw octopus strips and tentacles, tuna, salmon and squid. I learned that such fare is called sashimi, NOT sushi. Sushi means "with rice" and often doesn't even contain meat at all. Sushi is also usually served upon or wrapped in dried kelp and we had that as well. Surprisingly, though different, we tentatively at first, tried everything and truly LOVED it all! Nothing tasted slimey or fishy or anything you might have thought it would. It was simply great and I, for one, became hooked.
[attachment 12137 JapSashiminSake.jpg]
We were taught how to use chopsticks to eat everthing, even the rice, and also how to use raw ginger slices to enhance the flavors of the raw fish...and we learned the HARD WAY about using too much wasabi! I was asking for some Tabasco to drink to cool off my mouth!
We then had HUMONGOUS prawns and TWO inch thick Porterhouse steaks cooked on an open hibachi with onion slices, mangoes, pineapple and mandarin oranges.
[attachment 12138 JapSteakPrawn.jpg]
There was also rice, of course, and fresh stir-fried beans, pea pods and this hot spicy sprouts. Everything was washed down mostly with beer, but we did try some sake (rice wine). Sake doesn't taste like much but the alchohol content is pretty high, so we just each had a tiny cupful. It was enough as it REALLY kicked in the beer for ME, luckily I wasn't going anywhere soon...
For dessert we had Home-made All-American apple pie (almost 3 inches thick), that Jim's mom had stayed up late to bake the night before after we arrived (the crust alone was worth having), and home-churned ice cream of which we each had a LONG turn on the handle which helped take the buzz on the sake - even if a couple of us lost our grips on the handle during the early going!
During our entire evening, Jim's dad was always smiling and nodding his head while pushing the backs of his hands toward us to keep enjoying ourselves. His mother seemed to be bustling everywhere all the time stopping only to giggle behind her hand and bow whenever we complimented things or did something silly, which must have been pretty the more the evening progressed.
We stayed up late watching some family slides taken back in Japan on a vacation to their ancestor's village and countryside, which weren't boring at all, but we were pretty tired and dozy. Jim's mom came and rolled out the futons, pillow and blankets on tatami mats for us to sleep again. She was pretty bossy about shooing us away when we tried to help her do anything at all. We were more than ready to dive into our sacks and pass out...after just a leeetle bit more pie, ice cream and milk, though...of course.
We woke up late Sunday morning, ate breakfast again (toast, eggs and sausage links) and got dressed in our uniforms to go to church with his folks per their request. How do you say, "no?" Now get THIS...Jim's mom had steamed and ironed ALL our slacks and shirts and even even got all our nametags and ribbons back on in proper orders somehow. Even I screwed THAT up upon occassion - she was like some freaking fairy god-mother or something! After the service (it was all in Japanese, but we still somehow understood and even helped sing the hymns) we came back to the homestead, packed and then shifted uncomfortably as we watched his mom just bawl over us while his dad puffed out his chest and shook each of our hands like they were water pump handles as we all thanked them in turn and said, "good-bye."
[attachment 12139 JimsFolks.jpg]
When we went out to the car, there were a group of young ladies there on the drive (obviously on their way to the second half of the festival), being all dressed up in bright kimonos. They were waving little American flags and cheering. Four of them came forward and gave each of us a small bouquet of flowers and a soft kiss on our cheeks. We all preferred the kisses but asking for seconds didn't seem to be in order.
As we drove down the freeway on our way back to Fort Lewis we could see Mount Rainier on the horizon in all it's glory as the afternoon sun made the snow cap glow. Later that night we talked about nothing but what a great time we had had with this Japanese family and the people...so foreign, yet so loving and appreciative of America and us in uniform. But on that ride back, I don't remember a word one spoken as each of us were just lost in thought and missing home.
It's memories of times like those that keep my door and my heart open to any of our troops away from home and family whenever they may need or want it...especially over the holidays.
i've went from 220 to 190 since august,and don't eat much after 5.if i can get down to 34 britches again i sure will be happy,maybe if i ate some sashimi our sushi i could dump this lard off faster.