JAPAN ADVENTURE

Welcome to Margie & Stan's Japan Adventure - our photo blog while living on MCAS Iwakuni in beautiful Yamaguchi Prefecture in Western Japan from 8/2004 to present. My photo above is the famous Kintai Bridge right here in Iwakuni. Be sure to check out Blog Archive (below left) for highlights of our travels. And leave us a comment - we'd love to hear from you! Click on photos to enlarge.
**WHEN YOU GET TO THE BOTTOM OF A PAGE, CLICK "Older Posts**
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, March 03, 2008

Trapped like rats in a cage . . . 3/3/08

AN EDITORIAL -- by Margie Stevens:

No sushi, no onsen, no oysters -- We heard last week that our "grounding" might end today -- or at least be "re-evaluated," but then I heard a little while ago, that because some folks in Okinawa are still breaking the rules & leaving the base without just cause, we're ALL grounded for another week! I don't understand why they don't just close the gates -- NO ONE LEAVES FOR ANY REASON . . . If they're going to allow people to leave, but then punish the rest of us because they did, it doesn't really make any sense. There now seems to be more focus on "catching" folks leaving without permission, than punishing the offenders, which is what this was originally all about. Most of us have NEVER been anything but good Ambassadors in Japan, and we have no control over those who break the rules. I'm not sure what this is accomplishing, other than to turn those on base against each other . . .
For those of you who might not be aware of what I'm talking about, here's a link provided by Sherri & David: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23409988/ or you can check the "Stars & Stripes" military news online. We're not getting much info locally -- mostly just rumors . . .

2 comments:

Steph said...

This is an absolute outrage. I can't believe first of all that anyone would commit crimes like that while they are representing us in Japan, but moreover I can't understand why they'd punish EVERYBODY else and NOT the individuals who are making such mischief. I wonder if we are scraping the bottom of the barrel to get warm bodies in the military right now, since all the good soldiers are being used up in senseless operations elsewhere. I wish that were not the case. Thank you for representing Americans well, and for being good ambassadors, as you said. I hope that you get out soon on good behavior...

Anonymous said...

Please tell me the basis for the metaphor "trapped like rats in a
cage." In the early 1900s, people used to trap rats in cages and drown them. To your best knowledge is that the source? I am doing a documentary on a 1911 disaster and several editorials used the metaphor.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.


Gale Largey
gp@epix.net
www.galelargey.com