Michael Nelson, second from right, a Navy petty officer second class who works as an intelligence specialist with the 7th Fleet out of Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, and Devon Hays, right, a petty officer second class assigned to the USS Blue Ridge, patrol Honch, a drinking district outside the base popular with servicemembers, Monday, June 6, 2016. Sailors in Japan are barred until further notice from nonessential off-base activities and banned from drinking alcohol, Navy officials announced Monday. (Tyler Hlavac/Stars and Stripes)
Michael Nelson, second from right, a Navy petty officer second class who works as an intelligence specialist with the 7th Fleet out of Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, and Devon Hays, right, a petty officer second class assigned to the USS Blue Ridge, patrol Honch, a drinking district outside the base popular with servicemembers, Monday, June 6, 2016. Sailors in Japan are barred until further notice from nonessential off-base activities and banned from drinking alcohol, Navy officials announced Monday. (Tyler Hlavac/Stars and Stripes)
Mike's, a Tex-Mex restaurant popular with servicemembers at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, is empty during what would normally be the dinner rush hour, Monday, June 6, 2016. Sailors in Japan are barred until further notice from nonessential off-base activities and banned from drinking alcohol, Navy officials announced Monday following a recent spate of high-profile arrests of servicemembers and U.S. civilians. (Tyler Hlavac/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Mike’s, a Tex-Mex restaurant regularly visited by Americans, had only two customers for the dinner rush hour. The rest of the Honch, a popular drinking district right outside Yokosuka Naval Base, was mostly deserted, too.
With the Navy imposing a ban Monday on nonessential travel off base, only commuters, civilians and sailors conducting quick errands could be seen by nightfall. The new restriction, along with a ban on drinking on or off base, hit fast.
The few sailors who were out said they had been expecting some kind of new restrictions in the wake of a wave of misbehavior that has included sailors being arrested for rape and a drunken-driving crash on Okinawa.
“It’s kind of a downer seeing that we have to be stuck on base,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Bradley Linnerooth, a fire controlman stationed aboard the USS Fitzgerald. “Some of my friends are upset, but there is nothing we can really do about. Things happen and people do stupid things and everyone as whole get punished for it.”
Petty Officer 1st Class Jordon Gordon, a sonar technician with the USS Mustin, also wasn’t surprised.
“This isn’t the first time something like this has happened during my career in Japan,” Gordon said. “The Navy is a team effort … it takes more than one person to run a ship, but one person can sink it. So yeah we all do hate what is going on but we understand it’s not forever and sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and deal with it the best you can.”
Mary Cobb, a former sailor whose husband is stationed on the USS Stethem, said the liberty restrictions will unfairly affect families. She and her children will not be able to spend any time off base with her husband.
“I think it’s ridiculous that it affects not only military members, but the whole family,” Cobb said. “We can’t go spend time at a beach or anything. It’s also ridiculous because it (the incident) didn’t even occur in our (Yokosuka) area of operations.”
There also seemed to be some confusion who exactly the rules apply to. Restaurant owners said they received no information from the Navy. A chief petty officer with the shore patrol said Marines stationed on Yokosuka were covered even though the Navy’s announcement only mentioned sailors in Japan.
Mike’s cook, Hiroshi Watanabe, worried about the impact on local businesses if the crackdown drags on. Base personnel make up roughly 90 percent of Mike’s customers.
“During the past restrictions on alcohol, customers would still show up and eat,” Watanabe said. “Business would go down, but it wasn’t bad. If the curfew goes on for a month or more, we are going to be hurting for sure.”
