A friend of mine, a Marine stationed in Japan, called me last night and sounded uncharacteristiclly worried. He said he wasn’t allowed to talk about it but things were getting “hairy” over there and he wished he could leave.
Anyone have the straight dope on something sinister we don’t know about going on over there?
Are you sure he was talking about Japan? Could the Chinese be gearing up for a grab at Taiwan?
Japan isn’t going to go to war with anybody for the foreseeable future. What reason would they have for it? They don’t have an army or navy officially. Who would they be fighting? China? That would be a bad idea. Korea? Not smart.
However, there are ongoing tensions in Korea (like since 1950 to the present), although it looks like there may be hope in that area. Secretary of State Albright is actually in North Korea now.
China is always making threats to take over Taiwan. That would not be pleasant.
The only trouble I’ve heard about was on the island of Okinawa. The population over the past few years have really wanted the United States to leave. A few years back tensions were really high after 2-3 marines raped a 13-14 year old native.
Marc
Wasn’t there (yet) another case recently of a US serviceman taking indecent liberties with a local female? The fallout from these incidents can indeed be described as “hairy:” all personel confined to base (not so bad for the zoomies, but for grunts & squids much more miserable), open hostility from the locals, and an accelerated enforcement of the “shit rolls downhill” law of gravity from officers and senior enlisted.
Yep, a 19-year-old Marine was charged with breaking into an apartment and attempting to rape a 14-year-old. This happened right before the G-8 summit in Okinawa and went a long way toward generating a warm welcome from the locals.:rolleyes: I’m sure the guy’s sergeant had some choice words for him.
Other than that, there’s little, if any, anti-American sentiment among the average citizenry on the main islands (although I’m sure there are disgruntled neighbors around just about every US base in every country). Tokyo Govenor Shintaro Ishihara has a childhood complex regarding Americans and makes noises every now and then about reclaiming some American bases but nothing’s going to come of it. There are also the yakuza-financed ultra-rightists who are anti-foreigner in general, but they spend most of their time just making noise and harrassing newspapers that show insufficient respect for the royal family.
If things are actually getting “hairy” with the Japanese for your friend, warmgun, it’s more likely because he got someone pregnant that because of any planned Japanese military activity. 
–sublight.
I was in Japan last week, and found the people there to be polite and helpful. The bell boys at one hotel in Shinjuku transferred my bags to another hotel in Hachioji, so that after a full day of sightseeing, my bags were waiting in my room when I checked in at Hachioji, and they did this without tips. The folks on the street pretty much keep to themselves, but are helpful if you ask directions.
They’re a very homogeneous society, so aren’t as used to different-looking people as we are over here, but still are nice to us.
However, I was in and around Tokyo, and I’ve heard that on Okinawa, the natives really want the US military base out of there. The uncivilized behavior of some of our troops is largely responsible for this.
Several years ago there were a few cases of bosozoku (Japanese teenage “biker” gangs) engaging in “gaijin gari” or foreigner hunting. IIRC someone did get killed. The situation in Okinawa might be described as “hairy” for the troops as mentioned above, because they are under curfew. That’s most likely what he was referring to.