America's North Shore Journal

Sol­diers with the 42^nd Divi­sion (cen­ter) pose with Ikedas, the fam­ily they vis­ited dur­ing Yama Sakura 57, the bilat­eral com­mand post train­ing exer­cise with mem­bers of the Japan Ground Self Defense Forces. The vis­its were part of the cul­tural exchange aspect or the exer­cise. The Sol­diers are (clock­wise from top left): Staff Sgt. Robert Lant of Staten Island, Staff Sgt. Fredric Trunzo of Buf­falo, Pfc. Kelly Rush­ing and Pfc. Cal­lie Haynes, both of Saratoga Springs. Photo by Staff Sgt. Ray­mond Drumsta

There was some ner­vous­ness at first, but in the end, the sim­i­lar­i­ties between the 42^nd Infantry Divi­sion Sol­diers and their Japan­ese hosts out­stripped the differences.

"I felt com­pletely at home and com­pletely wel­come," said Sgt. 1^st Class Denis Topliffe, who was one of eight divi­sion Sol­diers selected to visit Japan­ese homes dur­ing Yama Sakura 57, the bilat­eral com­mand post train­ing exer­cise with mem­bers of the Japan Ground Self Defense Forces.

The vis­its were part of the exercise's cul­tural exchange aspect. Most of the New York Army National Guard division's com­mand staff arrived here on Dec. 2, and accom­pa­nied by inter­preters, the Sol­diers vis­ited the homes the fol­low­ing evening.

Topliffe of Guilder­land, and War­rant Offi­cer Kelly Fancher of Valatie vis­ited the Segawa fam­ily. A fam­ily of five, the Segawas have three girls, rang­ing in age from 20 months to seven years old, Fancher said.

"I was excited to do it because it's a once-in-a-lifetime expe­ri­ence," Fancher said of the visit. "But I was ner­vous too."

Fancher and Topliffe both like Sushi, and expected a tra­di­tional Japan­ese din­ing expe­ri­ence. In addi­tion to Sushi, the Segawas served hot­dogs, French fries and chicken — all pre­pared equally well, Fancher said.

"It was good," Fancher said.

They went out of their way to make food they thought was cul­tur­ally appro­pri­ate, said Topliffe, refer­ring to the Amer­i­can cuisine.

"Of course, I didn't eat any of that," Topliffe said with a smile. "I filled up on Sushi. It was fab­u­lous."
Though shy at first, the chil­dren grew more care­free as the evening wore on — play­ing and hors­ing around, remind­ing him of his own chil­dren, Topliffe said. The fact that he is part-time sol­dier and full­time spe­cial edu­ca­tion teacher at Peter B. Coey­mans Ele­men­tary School in Ravena helped as well, he added.

"When I told them my full­time is teach­ing, they seemed more relaxed," he said.

At the children's request, he and Fancher sang "Twin­kle, Twin­kle, Lit­tle Star," Topliffe said. They then sat on the couch and enjoyed the children's ren­di­tion of the song in Japan­ese, he explained.

Staff Sgt. Fredric Trunzo of Buf­falo vis­ited the Ikeda fam­ily with Staff Sgt. Robert Lant of Staten Island and Pfc. Kelly Rush­ing and Pfc. Cal­lie Haynes, both of Saratoga Springs. Trunzo said he felt privledged to visit with the Ikedas and nervous.

"I wanted to make sure I rep­re­sented my unit and the United States as best as pos­si­ble," he said.
But when he saw the trap­pings of the Ikeda home — which included a liv­ing room with a tele­vi­sion set and the chil­drens' toys — Trunzo, too, felt right at home.

"It looked like my home," he said. "There doesn't seem to be any dif­fer­ences in how we live our daily lives."

One new expe­ri­ence was sit­ting cross-legged at the Ideka's foot-high table, din­ing on Sushi and a enjoy­ing a num­ber of dishes, most of which he didn't know the name of, he said.

"It was huge spread," he recalled. "There was prob­a­bly 20 dif­fer­ent Japan­ese food items. It just kept coming."

They ate while wear­ing cer­e­mo­nial robes the Idekas had pro­vided, and "talked about every­thing" — from music and Michael Jack­son to Poke­mon, Trunzo said. They also spoke with the Ideka's grand­fa­ther, a for­mer major and engi­neer in the Japan­ese Defense Forces, he added.
The Sol­diers said they exchanged gifts like Japan­ese fans, base­balls, T-shirts and the 42^nd Divi­sion rain­bow patch.

It seemed as though the Segawa's chil­dren didn't want the evening to end.

"They actu­ally didn't want us to leave," Fancher said. "One of them was crying."

It was won­der­ful that they cre­ated a bond in such a short time, Topliffe said. For him, the evening with the Segawas hear­kened back to his expe­ri­ences in a Egypt­ian cul­tural exchange pro­gram and his inter­ac­tions with Iraqi civil­ians while help­ing them to rebuild a school in Tikrit.

"It doesn't mat­ter where I go in the world, peo­ple are all the same," he said.

DVIDS
Story by Staff Sgt. Ray­mond Drumsta