Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Misawa: Then and Now

When I was in the Airforce, stationed at Misawa Airbase in Japan, I regularly went to a place called the Hospitality House. The Hospitality House, run by a christian ministry called Cadence International, basically serves as a get together place for military people who are stationed over seas.

One thing I noticed about being stationed over seas was that the environment constantly changes between old people leaving and new people coming in. When I was stationed in Misawa, I witnessed an older generation leaving, as I incorporated with a newer generation. Then, later on as my generation started to leave, a newer generation began to appear.

Last night, I found the website for the hospitality house. Now, five years after having left Misawa, it seems that a lot has changed. So I thought I'd post some pics comparing my time, 1999 - 2001, with the time that's currently displayed on the website. (as of July 25, 2006)




Here's a group photo from my time. I'm the young skinny guy getting strangled on the bottom left


And here's a group photo of a bunch of people I've never seen before.



Here's ol' Caleb playing the guitar back in 01.


And here's some dudes with guitars sitting on an unfamiliar couch at the modern house.


Here's Jay, strummin a guitar next to Chris, who for the moment seems to have contracted a case of the downs.



And here's some more peeps with guitars at the current house. Notice the edge of a big screen TV on the far left in contrast to the TV in the picture above this one.


Here's Keith. His family ran the House when I was there. Note the two silver coffee cylinders in the background and the mug in Keiths hand. In my day, if you went to the House, you could count on drinking coffee, even if you didn't normally drink it.



And I'm pretty sure this is the guy who's the head honcho nowa days. And look, what's this on the table? Mugs which seem to be labeled in order to let us know that, yes, they are in fact utilized for the purpose of containing coffee.






Here's another picture with me(center) looking all young and perty.



And here's three people sitting at an unfamiliar table near the same closet doors.



Here's Joe and Mary back in 99.



And here's a similar type of co-ed shot from the group of unknowns.


Here's the three kids who inhabited the House back in my day.


And here's three equivalent children from the modern House.





Here's "the crackaz", as they referred to themselves. Note the signature cans of Mountain Dew.




And here's some more people who I don't know.


Here's some of my homies of yore sitting on a couch.



And here's people sitting in a similar location. Anybody familiar with the house from my time might notice in the background that the bar has been removed.


Here's Mary sitting on the floor.

And here's a creepy bald guy sitting on the floor.



And finally, no Misawa tribute would be complete without a snowboarding shot.

And one of the newbees.

So what did I learn from this?:

1. Time flies

2. Posting pictures of complete strangers feels kind of weird

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Don't forget to check out the Legend of the Green Dragon.

2 comments:

J-Dubb said...

J-Dubb was actually my nickname at work when I was stationed in Misawa. People at the House actually knew me as Jerm. But yeah, I left just before Keith and Anne did, so I wouldn't have met you guys. Yeah, it's definately a time warp. I'd love to go back there and see all the changes first hand.

J-Dubb said...

Woa, I didn't know they moved. That's kinda sad.