Army Master Sgt. John Ross Valino chats with Nagasaki resident Takako Kikuchi at the Segafredo coffee shop in Yomitan, Okinawa, Tuesday, June 20, 2023. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)
YOMITAN, Okinawa — U.S. soldiers met with their Japanese neighbors this week at a coffee shop near an Army base on Okinawa for a State Department program designed to bring the communities together.
The monthly language exchange — called Asakatsu, meaning “morning activity” — was started by the U.S. Consulate General Naha a dozen years ago and has since spread to 10th Support Group soldiers from Torii Station, group spokesman Brian Lamar said Tuesday. The forum is held at Segafredo, a coffee shop approximately 2 miles east of the base.
The event on Tuesday drew more than 20 soldiers and Okinawans, from a Starbucks barista to a staffer from Japan’s Ministry of Defense.
“It encourages our folks to get involved in the community,” said Lt. Col. Edward Camacho, the support group’s executive officer. The Saipan native came to his second meeting to improve his Japanese and meet “interesting” people.
“We can learn a lot from each other,” he said. This month’s event was themed “road trips in America."
The U.S. military has 32 installations in Okinawa prefecture, a series of islands roughly the size of Tokyo city. A sizable protest movement on Okinawa has tried for years to reduce the military footprint on the island.
Members of the U.S. Army's 10th Support Group at Torii Station chat with their Japanese neighbors at the Segafredo coffee shop in Yomitan, Okinawa, Tuesday, June 20, 2023. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)
Members of the U.S. Army's 10th Support Group at Torii Station chat with their Japanese neighbors at the Segafredo coffee shop in Yomitan, Okinawa, Tuesday, June 20, 2023. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)
At Tuesday’s event, Master Sgt. John Ross Valino, an Army mission planner, sat first with Takako Kikuchi, of Nagasaki, before circulating around the room. The conversation included food, sports, anime, travel, America and its best cross-country routes.
Valino credited his conversation partners for coming to meet and chat with strangers from a foreign land. It showed a real hunger for learning, he said.
“I always come to try and speak English for practice,” said Rio Yamauchi, of Yomitan. She enjoyed stories of the American homeland and its beauty.
Mao Yohena, who moved to Okinawa three years ago from Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido, said she came to make new friends and ended up learning about Alabama and Route 66, which runs from Chicago through the American Midwest and Southwest to Santa Monica, Calif.
U.S. consulate staff organized the first Asakatsu event in 2011 at the Starbucks near Barclay Court in Urasoe, consulate spokeswoman Nicole Lima Nucelli wrote in an email Tuesday. That exchange — held on the first two Wednesdays of each month from 7:30-8:30 a.m. — pairs English-speaking volunteers with Japanese residents to strengthen their English skills.
The Army-sponsored event started in 2016 and is held the third Tuesday of each month from 7:30-8:30 a.m. at Segafredo on Route 58, Lamar said. The consulate is working with the Navy to start a third chapter in Chatan.
"These interactions strengthen the bond between the local community and Americans living in Okinawa," Nucelli said. The Army event typically averages about 40 people, Lamar said.
Participants on Tuesday overwhelmingly said they enjoyed the coffee and conversation.
“I had a good time,” said Shin Moriyama, of Okinawa City. “I will come back.”
