Night

Yokosuka 6/28/08

My heart was curious, so I took the train down to Yokosuka on a Saturday night. I met my colleague Marlin, a tall Navy veteran with a deep voice and a wife that is currently in service, outside Yokosuka Chuo station. There we headed for a bite to eat before heading to Hancho or “the Haunch.”

The haunch is a set of side streets filled with bars, restaurants and dance halls. It has a bad reputation because it is frequented by many sailors, who have been known to get drunk and get in fights amongst themselves. In fact, I heard that the reputation for foreigners is so poor that they have been banned from the dance halls. Walking through the streets, I saw more Americans than Japanese.

Marlin showed me into a bar and we sat down to drink and play pool. The bar was filled with male sailors and Japanese women. Besides one Japanese male bartender, I did not see a foreign female or a local male. The speakers were blasting hip-hop and I could have very easily been in any city in the entire world. Marlin and I spoke about life in the Navy, and how it can give a young man discipline and a set of skills that can set him on a fruitful path. He told me about his travels throughout the Mediterranean Sea and the hard 6 hours on/6 hours off, seven days a week work schedule on the ship.

When 11 o’clock came, I left and caught one of the last trains to Oppama. I went and I returned in peace, but I came to the conclusion that such a lifestyle is not for me. The days have been so rich in beauty and learning that I do not wish to sacrifice vitality to the night.

Many people do not awaken until the night, but I have always fallen before I go sleep.