Chapter 1

I’ve not been having much fun lately ... my stories don’t DO anything for me ... drat! I had more fun writing whatever popped into my head ... stream of consciousness ... or ... maybe stream of contensciousness ... my way ... my rules.

‘Some of you may remember me, the Japanese Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer who destroyed the Sailing Vessel Sailbait trying to discover the secret compartment hidden in the head. Imagine my chagrin ... there was NOTHING ... no secrets ... a 48 foot sailboat ... valued at half a million American dollars ... in pieces less than a square foot ... dust comes to mind.

When the new boat... SV Revenge was unloaded from the containership Mary Jackson, I was sure I was being held to ridicule.

The Maritime Safety Authority sent me to examine the new catamaran ... well ... I asked to go, my access was blocked by a diplomatic SEAL! I tried but I was stopped by three agencies of the JSDF. Every time!

I was a basket case when my nemisis, the gajin round-eye, arranged a meeting.

No handshake ... no “Hail, fellow, well met.” We were Not friends.

No hem or haw ... he just came out with it.

“You seem like an honorable man,” he said.

“My honor is ashes in my mouth. Why?”

“You know ... you’re right. There was a secret aboard.” JW said. “I can’t tell you ... but I can SHOW you.”

Arrangements were made ... this was to be a ‘formal’ denouement. I dressed for it.

We met at the USO Fleet Landing.

The first ‘suspicious’ thing was the black RIB dinghy ... with the HUGE outboard ... Looking at it, I thought... ‘Ah so ... CIA.’

We boarded, untied from the USO Dock.

It was very quiet ... and very fast ... faster than my patrolboat. Port turn at the Sasebo port Omori shoal Light Buoy.

The huge catamaran was anchored to a ball in a reasonably sized bay near the Juvenile Detention Facility. The bay was very private.

I was a traditionally dressed Japanese male wearing the traditional national costume.

Japanese men’s traditional costume consists of montsuki / haori (a halfcoat which has a family crest, called “mon”, as a decorative element), hakama (a kind of wide trousers worn over the kimono), obi (a traditional sash), tabi socks and shoes, and decorative elements, such as sensu (folding fan) or other.

The main piece in Japanese traditional costume is the kimono – a long robe. This item is the most popular, well-known and most used among people in Japan and other countries. And both men and women use it. But men’s kimono is simpler than women’s. It has 5 pieces + footwear. Also men’s kimonos are made of coarse cloth and usually are not colorful. A kimono for a man is black, brown, dark blue or green; it has few patterns.

The Happi coat. It is a kind of traditional Japanese jacket with wide straight sleeves. Happi is usually made of cotton of indigo or brown color. It also has a print of a family crest or nowadays a crest of a shop or other organization (it’s an advertisement and affiliation 2-in-1). The Happi coat is worn for different festivals. Mina had the emblem of the Coast Guard over the heart.

Adult men used to wear a special undergarment called “fundoshi”. It is a piece of cotton fabric that is tied in a panties-like shape. But today fundoshi isn’t as widespread as it used to be.

Modern underwear has replaced it. So, today fundoshi is worn usually to festivals, ceremonies and similar events, not in day-to-day life. This was an ‘event.’ I wore fundoshi.

Men and women wear geta – shoes that have some features of clogs and flip-flops at the same time. They are wooden with thongs made of cloth (leather, rubber etc.) that pass between the big toe and second toe. Tabi socks are often worn with geta.

Another Japanese shoe is the uwabaki. They are slippers for indoor usage, worn at home or in buildings where street shoes are prohibited. Uwabaki are flexible and easy to take on/off. I carried mine.

At the boat, I changed footwear and placed my geta in the rack provided. I was surprised to see there were four pair already in the rack. In a second rack were ‘boatshoes.’

They maybe round-eye gajin but they had some feeling for their surroundings.

Introductions were ‘remade.’ I had met the crew when the ‘excitement’ occurred and I was expecting resentment but the two males and two females ... obvious couples were as relaxed is if nothing had gone before.