Now that it’s finally in the news, I figured I’d blog quickly about this. A cab driver was murdered near Shiori station (across the street from the Daiei, which is right in front of the military base). So, this 22 year old guy went AWOL two weeks ago from the Cowpens and we can only hope that he’s not involved, although it seems unlikely. I’m glad NCIS tracked him down. Security on the base has been crazy. DJ and I came on base together Thursday and I had to get out and open the trunk of the Mini (what trunk?) for them to search. Then leaving we had to show our ID’s, which totally made me think of living in Rota, Spain. We always had to show our ID’s to get on and off base. If you didn’t show your ID, you couldn’t leave.

I came back on base on Friday for my dentist appt. and one woman scanned my ID, while another searched my purse and a guy wanded me down and asked whether I had anything to declare. I didn’t. This was still going on Saturday even after they’d caught the guy in Tokyo, so we’ll see what happens. The article says that he’s not a suspect and the officials made it clear that he was only a “person of interest,” but it sounded like they only didn’t have enough evidence to charge him.

It’s depressing to have it happen here. And I truly hope that this guy is not involved. We’ve barely recovered from the murder that happened three years ago. All of us that are associated with the military are seen as guilty by association. Like we don’t have enough people calling for us to leave Japan. I’m really afraid that they will enforce a curfew like they did in Okinawa after the alleged rape. Basically they restricted everyone on base to their homes. People who lived off base could go to work and then back home and that was it. I don’t know if they allowed dependents who worked off base to continue to work. Not being allowed to work scares me to death. It’s what keeps me sane and I know it would totally screw the school I work for. I don’t know if this is even in consideration, but I suppose anything can happen at this point.

This makes me want to go back to the states even more. Not because I’m afraid of anything. It just makes me so tired. I feel like I spend a ton of time with my students and Japanese friends being the “perfect American” that when something like this happens, I feel like I’m back to square one.