This is a continuing post in a series of what people with no life what-so-ever do on vacation to try and feed on past glory. If you’re on Oahu and the weather sucks, what else can you do but look up old friends and screw around with them? In this entry, you will see that the JMSDF is in port for RimPac, affording me the opportunity to slink around the Japanese Armada. (I’m not in Hawaii now — this series of photos that you’ll see over the next two days are from a couple of years of vacations)
The JMSDF Atago (DDG 177) (Atago class destroyer) is an upgraded version of their Kongo class destroyers. The Kongo class is roughly comparable to the US Arleigh Burke class (Flight 1)
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| JMSDF 177 Atago |
I took a little heat for calling Atago a “Nip Ship” — being tagged as using politically incorrect language.
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| Rising Sun |
My father never returned to Hawaii or the Pacific after World War 2. I’m sure that he would have chafed at the thought of a Japanese flag or a Japanese ship in Pearl Harbor— but times change and the Japanese are faithful allies.
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| JMSDF Akebono DD 108 (right) (akebono means “daybreak”) JMSDF Atago (DDG 177 (left) (atago means “success”) |
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| SH-60 on Atago |
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| Wardroom keepsake |
That's cool. I can understand how your Dad would feel about the flag and all. It would be hard not to bristle over that if one were directly involved in the fighting back then. Regardless of how friendly we are with them now.
NIP SHIP nay. RISING SUN BUN okay.
Lovely water pic in that lower picture. Who doesn't love Hawaii!
They don't like it when you call the red dot on the side of their helicopters a "meat ball" either…
Sometimes you need to put time between a war and the ability to accept peace.
Hawaii and vacation means different things to different people. For me, it's a chance to go snorkeling at a very cool place and swim with dolphins as well as the opportunity to connect (at times) with people from the glory days.
How in hell did you get coffee??? All I ever got from the Japanese was green tea!
I suspect that it was one of those things that they had their wardroom whip up for foreign devils.
Hawaii is a wonderful place.Hawaii is one of the places on this planet that is considered to have perfect weather by most people on their vacation.
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