America the Mighty?

Zack and I did a little research on the country and culture before our move...each in our own way...I read a National Geographic Travel Guide sent to us by Linda...and Zack watched a series on the Discovery Channel about Japan.  I had read that it is completely normal for the male of the household to leave for work with the sun and return as it sets...six days a week.  There have been reforms to some businesses to have a half work day on Saturday.  Last night after super we walked over to a mini-mart to pick up a few grocery items and on our way back(around 6) we met in the hallway the housekeeper.  I mentioned to Zack that she was our housekeeper....he said that "these Japanese people have a crazy work ethic...they work all the (enter cuss word) day...they give Americans a bad name!"  I reminded him of that tid bit I read in the travel book...and he answers, "They weren't lying!".  And for Zack to say that someone is working a lot is a big deal since his father instilled him in him what others see as a crazy work ethic.  I asked him if he thought an American moving company would deliver at 6:30 in the morning...and he replies, "Oh, hell no!".  LOL...some Japanese work ethic in America would do it some good! 

After doing laundry this morning we jumped on the bus headed to get our passports stamps..only for me to realize that I forgotten the bold lettering on the to do list that stated they were closed on Wednesday.  We then took that opportunity to hike down to the post office and check our mailbox.  We had a few minutes to wait for the bus so Noah played around in a small grassy area...pointing out to me the birds.  I absolutely with no reservations can say that I hate birds.  They just freak me out...something about them doesn't quite seem real or natural.  A few birds in a tree singing a song is fine but swarms of birds or birds coming up to me wanting bread at the park is NOT.  In VA Beach it was Zack's job to get the birds off the patio should one make the mistake of thinking it was okay to land on the fence.  As much as I hate birds...Noah absolutely loves them.  He has brought me around liking ducks as we feed wild ducks in VA Beach...and they became tame enough they would eat the bread out of our hands.  I even went out of my comfort zone to go with Noah and a few family members to an outdoor aviary.  He was completely amazed and I was on edge the entire time!  Saying this...there are massive black crows here on base that sit in the tops of trees and caw down at you(Isn't there some bad luck saying about black crows cawing at you?).  They are no joke 3 or so times bigger than the crows back home.  Dixie and I even spoke about how big they are yesterday at the CDC...they would put the birds in Alfred Hitchcock's Birds...to shame(which is how I got my fear of birds...freshman year in English class...for some reason it was in the high school curriculum to watch this movie).  Noah enjoys finding them in the trees...and they are so massive that he can easily pick them out even when they are on the top branches.  Should these birds decided to swarm together in my presence...it just might make me run screaming at the top of my lungs!  From what I can gather about the base it was used first as a Japanese base and then the U.S. took it over in 1945 after the war.  From 1938-1945 there were more than 260 caves and in more than 20 different tunnel/cave systems...27km of known tunnel systems on the base...however I have heard a few people say that there are also tunnels out in the town and in the surrounding area.  During the war, each department was in charge of digging their own tunnels...so they are sorta everywhere...some faces of a hill have 3 tunnel entrances built in and others have none...it must have been we got!. here first go somewhere else type deal.  Included were a 500 bed hospital, large electrical power generating facility, and a midget submarine factory...among a few.  I believe that there are 3 tunnels/cave entrances that are still in use by the U.S. Navy and rest of the entrances were sealed off in 1992 for safety reasons.  The entrances are still quite visible and sealed with concrete and stone.  Zack has said that he's seen sealed openings on top of hills along the base...such as openings used as watchtowers, machine gun bunkers...and things of that nature.  The base was bombed only a few times with minor to no damage as most of everything was underground...one I've read to be during the Doolittle Raid.  We've learned about all of this in school...seen movies...heard people talk...but it's a completely different feeling to be on this base knowing that it was once a fortress of the Japanese military...to see the cave/bunker entrances...to be out in town and see faces of older men knowing that most likely they once were a part of the Japanese Imperial Army.  It's a sobering thought.  I know that many WWII U.S. military men hated the Japanese until the day they died...it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to think that some of these men or even women that we see out in town just might have that feeling about us.  We want to go visit some of the WWII memorials...such as the memorials set up in memory of those who lost their lives because of the atom bomb...they certainly aren't thankful for such actions that caused unthinkable pain, death, destruction, and now even the lasting impression the radiation is having on residents of those cities and even descendants of survivors(cancer, DNA mutations, birth defects, and so much more).  If the roles were reversed...could Americans welcome Japanese military forces into their country?  We have been in Japan for about a week and I have already gained a new perspective of that era in History.  Such a feeling it is to be in this country and seeing History...History that many Americans have forgotten or dismissed because we won and that's what matters.  Before now...I never really stopped and considered the tragedy that was caused to this country...In my opinion...Americans have the mentality that the war was won case closed...do whatever it takes to win.  I've dug around in my head and can't think of a single event in American History that would compare...other than 9/11...and yet that horrible day is already fading in the minds of Americans.  What an honor it is to living in this country...and please let it be known to those that ask about us...and give you that sympathetic look....we are happy, healthy, and even thriving already in this wonderful country.