A cultural observance...

This past weekend was the Spring Festival on base.  This is the only time the base is open to the Japanese public, so it was a big deal.  Evidently this is to foster relations with our host nation, but I think it was an excuse for the Japanese to indulge in a bit of American culture.  You'll see what I mean...

First things first, the cherry blossoms are coming out in full force!

Our first stop was Mikasa Park, an area that sits between the water and the base.  They were giving tours of a Japanese war ship, but we opted out.

Do you see the big guy in the left-hand corner?  Yep, that's a "mascot" for the visitors to take pictures with.  I know that I've said it before, but the Japanese love their big-felt-cartoon-mascots-things.  :-)

They had some vendors set up in the park serving food...

  

but the real action was at the other end of the park where the public was being admitted to base.  Having access to the base came in handy for us, we didn't have to wait in the public entrance line.

Once we got on base, the crowds just got bigger!

Do you want to know the biggest draw of the day??  PIZZA!  No joke! Probably 85% of the people leaving were carrying one, usually two, sometimes up to five boxes of pizza.  It is a country after my own heart! :-)

I don't think everyone understood the concept of carrying a pizza...

Seeing how most of the festival was about serving the Japanese American foods (they loved Taco Bell, hot dogs and, of course, pizza) we took in a Hula show...

and went celebrity sighting...

There weren't actually any celebrities, but you gotta love how the NCIS capitalizes on their Hollywood counterparts!