Yokota welcomes approximately 178,000 during annual Japanese-American Friendship Festival

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Katrina R. Menchaca and Tech. Sgt. Robin Stanchak
  • 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --  Yokota opened its gates to approximately 178,000 visitors during its two-day annual Japanese-American Friendship Festival Aug. 18-19.

The festival not only provided Yokota's neighbors a taste of American fun, but also served to strengthen ties between the base and the local communities.

"This is truly an amazing event that highlights the enduring partnership between our countries, and we are honored to have our Japanese community members here to celebrate with us," said Col. Mark August, 374th Airlift Wing commander.

"Every year, we are proud to host this event because it provides a unique view of our service members and their vital mission in the Pacific region. It also gives us an opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support of Yokota," August said.

During the event, visitors had an opportunity to enjoy a variety of festival foods, entertainment and activities.

There were 86 souvenir, food and beverage vendors from both on and off base that set up booths with items ranging from T-shirts, hats, patches, key chains to turkey legs, steak plates, taco salad, snow cones, cakes, gyoza and yakisoba.

For this year's entertainment, both an indoor and two outdoor stages hosted 35 live performance groups, including the U.S. Air Force Band of the Pacific-Asia ensemble, Pacific Trends, a variety of popular artists from Japan, a monkey street performer, and a Japanese Bon Odori dance performance.

Hosted by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, more than 60 dancers participated in the first ever dance performance and included JASDF service members, adults and children from the local community and the Yokota Tanabata Dancers.

The project officer for this year's festival, Capt. Michael Pluger, 374th Civil Engineer Squadron, said events like the friendship festival help to strengthen the important relationship between the U.S. and Japan.

"I think the festival is a great event for Yokota and our local community, it gives us an opportunity to show them some of what we do here on our base," he said. "This year was different because we now have the Air Defense Command Headquarters and the JASDF at Yokota and we were able to further show our partnership with them as well."

For those interested in aviation, there were both U.S. and Japanese aircraft on display throughout the flightline. Displays consisted of seven visiting JASDF and three visiting U.S. Navy and Army aircraft, as well as nine local static planes.

Some of the U.S. and Japanese aircraft on display included the F-16C Fighting Falcon, the C-12J Huron, the F-22 Raptor, the Japanese Kawasaki T-4 and the CH-47 helicopter.
In addition to those located on the ground, several aircraft took to the sky during aerial capability exercises. The UH-1N Iroquois, the U-2 Dragon Lady and two C-130 Hercules performed flyovers for the festival crowd.

Bringing the festival to a close was a fireworks show that could be seen in the skies above the base, celebrating the end of another great friendship festival event between Yokota and its community partners.