Squatters
The moving guys are taking a lunch break. I wish they would let me help. I hate sitting around when everyone else is working, but I just ended up getting in their way so I stopped trying to be helpful and I think they preferred it that way. I have my computer on the floor which is where it will remain until August 27th when it too begins its journey across the Pacific. Later this afternoon our lovely loaner furniture will be delivered. You’ll see what I mean by “lovely” when I post a photo of it. But it’s better than nothing, so I’ll stop whining.
This whole process is so painful and absurd. If we’d have had decent advice before making this trip two years ago I wouldn’t have brought half the things with me that are here now. We’d have left all the furniture and bedroom set and a number of other items that turned out to be useless. One of the reasons we elected to live on base was because of our monolithic American furniture – the big couch and bed wouldn’t have fit into any Japanese homes. That’s a major regret because living in a military community on this base has turned out to be the worst experience of my life. Which parallels the best experience of my life in experiencing Japan. Bizarre.
The movers are just about finished, so altogether it probably took them about 6 hours to pack up everything we have here. To put that in perspective, many peoples’ belongings take up to 3 days to prepare for shipment. People ship all kinds of crap over here on your tax dollar – Cadillac Escalades, big old giant antique chiffarobes and china cabinets and any other needless junk you can think of. Why the military permits this is beyond me. The moving companies move entire households in and out of here on a regular basis and I can’t even imagine what it costs taxpayers. This whole thing would have been so much nicer if we’d have brought minimal things like clothing and kitchenware and lived in a Japanese house with Japanese furniture. We really like Japanese culture and society and I regret that I did not take the chance to be totally immersed in it. I think both Gene and I would have been a hell of a lot better off mentally. And I could have had a dog too. Well, there’s no point in sitting here bitching about water under the bridge.
So not only does it cost taxpayers untold millions, we are forced to live out of suitcases for weeks and weeks at a time until us and our crap meet again at the next destination. So to sum up the point I’m trying to make, hauling all this shit over here is an exorbitant waste of money and hassle.
I use canvas bags when I go to the grocery store and I finally had enough of looking at people using plastic. So I wrote this letter to both the base and Pacific newspapers:
Greetings
I regularly patronize the Commissary and NEX stores like the many people on the base in Yokosuka, Japan. However, one thing apparently makes me a unique shopper; I insist (sometimes to the chagrin of baggers and clerks, I suspect) on using canvas shopping bags rather than the store-supplied plastic bags.
I am sincerely disgusted by the egregious use of plastic bags in base stores. Almost on a daily basis, I look aghast upon baggers and cashiers double bagging one item (!!), customers leaving stores with their purchases in practically enough petroleum-derived plastic to fuel a small car, and probably worst of all, plastic bags floating in the sea on my daily run around the base.
What bothers me most about this issue is the fact that neither store employees nor customers, give even a remote thought to the effects of their choices. Their 15 minutes of convenience trumps the downstream ramifications of that convenience, no matter how detrimental its effect on the environment. That plastic cup that held your coffee for 15 minutes will live on for hundreds of years out at sea, in a landfill or slowly decaying in a vacant lot somewhere. At some point in the very long life of that plastic, it might come to find itself wrapped around the throat of a sea creature, for years, slowly strangling it to death. Or it might lie in the corner of a parking lot or park leaching out toxic chemicals and soiling the visual appeal of an otherwise pleasant landscape.
A multitude of communities and countries around the world have either begun to heavily tax plastic bags or outlaw them altogether. If the “tree hugger” tack isn’t the right approach, there are other reasons that might be more palatable to a military community. As a world leader in almost every conceivable fashion, I think it behooves us as American citizens to set an example in this regard as well. It’s an important opportunity for the US to take the lead in curbing this waste for several reasons – cut costs for the seller, reduce our reliance on oil, reduce fossil fuel use…there are too many to list and all it requires is a simple internet search to find out more. But the most important reason of all, environmental stewardship, is a moral obligation on behalf of every person on this planet. I don’t want to perpetuate our country’s reputation as a rapacious glutton of natural resources. Americans living abroad are in a special position to not only assuage this shoddy reputation, but, conversely, to bolster international opinion by acting responsibly and thoughtfully.
As bad as the base’s bag usage is, many readers’ host countries are likely worse. I have an extensive network of foreign friends and know them and their culture well enough to understand that many times they look to the United States for guidance and as an “act to follow”. I am hoping that a byproduct of taking action about the plastic problem on base will manifest in a positive way outside the base.
Would everyone reading this please start using reusable canvas bags? And reusable coffee cups? Do you realize what actually happens to a plastic bag when you’re finished with it? And do you know where exactly the plastic comes from (oil, if you’re not aware)? Will any NEX and commissary management reading this letter take any kind of responsibility in fostering and promoting the use of canvas bags?
More information can be found at http://www.reusablebags.com/
I emailed the commissary about this issue, but was simply told that there are canvas bags available in the store for customers to purchase. Apparently, they’re not a hot seller. I really wish they were.
質問：私は横須賀基地の大半の人々と同様に、定期的にカミサリー・ストアとNEXを利用しております。しかし他の人と異なり店側が提供するビニール製バッグよりも布製のバッグを買い物に利用することにこだわりを持っています。ですから、基地の店が莫大な量のビニール製バッグが使われていることにうんざりしています。毎日のように袋詰め担当係やレジ係が一つの商品を二重包装しているばかりか、軽自動車に給油できるぐらいではないかと思うほどの石油原産品を顧客が持ち帰っています。最悪ののは私が毎日走る基地内の海岸に浮いているビニール製バッグです。横須賀基地社会の消費者に対して、何回も使用できる布製バッグ、あるいは再利用可能なコーヒーカップの使用を啓発することはできないものでしょうか。消費者が役目を終えたビニール製バッグの現実的な末路について目を覚まし認識する方法はないものでしょうか。NEXやカミサリーは布製バッグの使用を促進する義務を負うつもりはないのでしょうか。この件についてカミサリーにメールで問い合わせたのですが、「お客様が購入できる布製バッグを用意しております」と回答されるだけですし、それらが売れ筋商品ではないことは明らかです。
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it was printed in both papers! Not only was it printed in the base’s newspaper, but the head commander here is actually going to take action. The above text is what I sent, but they had to edit it for length. The Japanese translation was the shortened version done by either someone on the newspaper staff or run through an online translator which is terrible – I don’t know enough yet to make that distinction. Here’s his response:
A: We supply paper and plastic bags for our customers but strongly encourage use of canvas bags to protect the environment. Customers may request doubling of plastic bags if items are too heavy for a single bag, (e.g., glass jars, half-gallon or gallon size of a liquid product, etc.). Paper bags have a tendency to deteriorate once they get wet from the rain. We do carry canvas and mesh tote bags in the store in aisle four. The customers have the choice of plastic or paper at the register. The following actions will be taken by the commissary: 1. We will inform the baggers not to double bag items that don’t need it. 2. Have the cashier ask people if they want plastic or paper. The cashiers will also make consumers aware of canvas/mesh bags as alternative to plastic bags. 3. Display the two types (canvas/ mesh) of bags with our ‘What’s in the closet” in front of the store to show people that we do carry them.
回答：私たちは紙製とビニール製のバッグを用意しておりますが、環境保護の観点から布製バッグの使用を強く推奨しております。お客様は一つの商品が非常に重い場合、例えばガラス瓶や半ガロンもしくは１ガロンの液体商品には二重包装を求める場合もあります。紙製のバッグは一度雨に濡れると破れやすくなります。４番通路に布製またはメッシュのトートバッグが用意されております。お客様はレジで紙製もしくはビニール製のバッグを選択することが可能です。今後カミサリーとしては以下の対応をする予定です： 1. 包装担当係に必要の無いものについては二重包装を行わないよう指導します。 2. お客様が紙製のバッグかビニール製バッグのどちらが必要かレジ係に尋ねさせるよう指導すると同時に、消費者の皆さんがビニール製バッグの代わりに布製もしくはメッシュのバッグが利用できることを意識できるように配慮させます。 3. 店舗前の一角に２種類の買い物袋を展示します。
Nice!!
