Last night was the coldest night since arriving to Japan. Our tent heater couldn’t keep up with the outside cold and I woke up because of the cold. On the good news side, the Division is coalescing and coming together quickly. All of the staff elements are working in unison towards a common goal. It’s nice to see us continuously improving our skills. Today we had to stop our exercise and go participate in the opening ceremonies for Yama Sakura 59. All of the visiting US soldiers and the participating Japanese soldiers stood outside the Western Army Headquarters in the parking lot. There was Japanese media that attended the function and took a lot of pictures and video.
The ceremony went well and there were over 4000 soldiers. The two Armies were split: one on the left and the other on the right. I couldn’t take any pictures of the event because I was in the ceremony but I’ll see if I can get some that our Public Affairs NCO took. The Pacific Land Component Commander was there and spoke on behalf of the US portion. Our flag was presented as well as the Japanese flag. When the American National Anthem was played, Ol Glory started to move in the breeze and it just felt very patriotic being there and representing the US. When our National Anthem completed, the Japanese anthem was played and as if on cue, the Stars and Stripes lost its breeze and the Japanese flag picked up the breeze. It kinda gave me a little chill.
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