Navy chaplain (Lt.) Jacob Meyer from the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan speaks with Japanese visitors at the cultural exchange center at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on March 29, 2023. (Jennessa Davey/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Awkward silence turned to warm conversation Wednesday as sailors and local Japanese shared details about their cultures at the first incarnation of the Navy Cafe program since the pandemic began.
Ten sailors from the USS Ronald Reagan and 14 locals met at the Japan-U.S. Cultural Exchange Center at the naval base for the four-hour event, which included lunch at the base’s Chief Petty Officer Club, games and tours of base facilities and the aircraft carrier itself.
“Japanese people usually know nothing about the U.S. military except for what they see in newspapers or on TV,” Kyoko Sugita, community relations specialist for the base, told Stars and Stripes during the event. “You can learn a lot about ships from a magazine. But they’re not the people.”
U.S. service members similarly may have few opportunities to interact with their neighbors, Sugita said, and the Navy Cafe gives them a chance to learn more about Japanese culture. She hopes that with the easing of restrictions around the COVID-19 pandemic, the event can be held about once a quarter.
“We live in and amongst each other, but we rarely get time to interact; so, it’s a great way to see Japanese nationals as people who we are living with, and not just next to,” Lt. Jacob Meyer, a chaplain aboard the Ronald Reagan, told Stars and Stripes.
Meyer, of South Bend, Ind., said he and the other sailors were asked a lot of questions about their jobs, hometowns and more casual topics such as food or entertainment; and sailors asked similar questions of their Japanese neighbors.
The event helped Americans understand the formality of Japanese culture, Meyer said, which he felt sometimes prevented younger sailors from approaching locals in their daily lives.
“I think that’s the key – our perception is not always reality,” he said.
Sailors from the USS Ronald Reagan and Japanese visitors spent several hours getting to know each other during a cultural exchange at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on March 29, 2023. (Jennessa Davey/Stars and Stripes)
While sailors volunteered for the event, Japanese participants were selected through a lottery system on the base’s Japanese-language Twitter account that favored those with less proficiency in English, Sugita said.
“People who speak good English have a chance to talk to Americans,” she said. “People who don’t speak English don’t have many chances to talk to the U.S. Navy, so I wanted to give them an opportunity.”
Arika Sato, an instructor of battojutsu, a type of traditional Japanese sword fighting, recently moved to Yokosuka from Sendai, Miyagi prefecture. Wednesday’s cultural exchange was only her second time on base; her first was the Spring Festival on Saturday.
“I wanted an opportunity to interact with U.S. service members and their families, because I live in Yokosuka and see them all the time – but I don’t have the opportunity to talk to them directly,” she told Stars and Stripes. “It was very interesting, and the sailors were very friendly, so I feel comfortable talking to them now.”
The event benefits its participants but also develops the relationship between the naval base and Yokosuka city, according to Kenichi Sugiyama, director of the city’s exchange promotion division.
“For the citizens of Yokosuka, I think it’s very important to have events like this,” he told Stars and Stripes. “Actually taking time to communicate helps us understand each other; unless you talk to each other, you won’t understand each other.”
