Friendship Day!

Above are some pictures of the firework's display during Friendship Day. These fireworks mark the first time the US has set off fireworks in Japan since the earthquake and tsunami of March 11.

Friendship Day is a day when the US base opens their gates to any and all foreign nationals who want to come visit. They have tours of some of the Navy boats, food vendors set up all along the main road, displays and demonstrations. This event attracts hundreds, if not thousands of Japanese people from around the area trying to get a peek at an American military base.

Don't be fooled, things are not done all willy nilly. They only open a certain parts of the base and rope off everything else. If you are an American, you have to show your military ID hundreds of times just to get to the different closed off parts of the base. The naval ship tours are heavily monitored and patrolled to ensure no one tries any funny business. So, it's not like an open base free for all.

One of the things the Japanese people love about the open base is the American pizzas. I witnessed them buying 15 pizzas and wrapping them up with twine and carrying them home. I guess everyone loves fatty and delicious pizza. Japanese pizzas are....well....small and very different than American pizza.

They have several Friendship Days throughout the year and in all the bases in Japan. It's a way for the American base to reach out to their foreign neighbors in a gesture of goodwill. However, this Friendship Day happened to fall on the day the US dropped a nuclear bomb (the Little Boy) on Hiroshima. So, whether or not it was a coincidence, no one can say.