In honor of Pearl Harbor Day: My night with Captain Ito.

[trof]

I flew for Nippon Cargo Airlines from 1989 till 1999.
When I was going through my initial checkout on the B-747, I had a check ride with Captain Hiraide Ito.

We flew from Tokyo to Anchorage, where we had a 24 hour layover.

Next door to the Hilton where we stayed, was a bar and grill that we frequented.
Ito said "Meet you there at 5:00?"
"Sure."

There were four of us.
Captain, co-pilot, flight engineer, and Captain Ito.
The instructor/check pilot.

Ito ordered Long Island Tea...for all of us.
1/2 fluid ounce vodka
1/2 fluid ounce rum
1/2 fluid ounce gin
1/2 fluid ounce tequila
1/2 fluid ounce triple sec (orange-flavored liqueur)
1 fluid ounce sweet and sour mix
1 fluid ounce cola, or to taste

It's a killer.

I sipped along.
Ito drank.
Ordered another round.
I sipped.
Ito drank.
Ordered another round.
Now I had three drinks lined up on the bar and I was still sipping my first one.
whew

And then, MUCH to my surprise, Ito put his arm around my shoulder.
Look, the Japanese are not usually 'touchy feely'.
Quite the contrary.

But Ito put his arm on my shoulder and said:
TROF-SAN, PEARL HARBOR?BIG MISTAKE!

[rug]

1. If you drank yours, you could have put your arm on his shoulder and said "Hiroshima".

[Aristus]

2. I think it's a testament to human resilience that the US and Japan

have become such good friends and strong allies. May it remain ever so.

[DFW]

3. MY brother's wife is from Japan

Better yet, when he invited me to be best man at his wedding, and when I said I'd ask my German (then-) girlfriend if she could make it, he invited us to join in, and make it a double wedding. It was held on "neutral" ground (Washington, DC), and the local press called it (NOT in print!) the "Axis wedding."

My dad and my wife's dad had been in opposing armies during the war. Both were drafted, and by the time my dad was sent to France, her dad was already back from Stalingrad with one leg blown off by a Soviet artillery shell, so there was no way any of them had ever ended up shooting at each other during the war, but it could just as easily have turned out otherwise.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. So true ...

The Man He Killed

Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have set us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!

But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.

I shot him dead because—
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; although

He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
Off-hand like—just as I—
Was out of work—had sold his traps—
No other reason why.

Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat, if met where any bar is,
Or help to half a crown.

--Thomas Hardy

[DFW]

5. All my father in law ever wanted to be was a farmer

He was drafted at 17, returned a cripple at 18, never able to work on a farm again.

His most fervent wish was that if he ever had grandchildren, that they would all be girls, and thus exempt from military service in Germany. Fate was to grant him this wish.