Comments for Simple Tribe

Comment on An ode to Canary Wharf by Nanette

Nanette — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:57:55 +0000

Liked the article and pictures.
Glad to see you posting again!

Comment on Rebranding Detroit: How the Motor City is getting its groove back by Urban Surfer

Urban Surfer — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:09:55 +0000

Great report!

Comment on Checking out the neighborhood ruins by Tom Drew

Tom Drew — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:01:26 +0000

I was also stationed at Fuchu during the period of 1962 and 1964. I truly enjoyed my assignment there.

Comment on Checking out the neighborhood ruins by Whitey

Whitey — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 23:59:34 +0000

I was stationed there from ’68-’73 and as Kevin said, air stations don’t have runways. When i left I was helping design some of the communications for the new 5th AF HQ. It’s really depressing to see the state of the place now. I had a great time while stationed there. My office/shop was in the old PACOM ELINT building when I left. This was handy because of the short walk to the NCO Club. It’s a really small base. Every year when we had our annual fitness run we would start at the front gate and run around the inner perimeter in a counterclockwise direction and finish up at the Airmen’s Club which was a hundred yards or so from the front gate. So, not much more than a mile and a half around. It was also home for HQ US Forces Japan , the Far East Comm Region, and the 1956 Comm Gp which was my outfit. I still miss it and for the rest of my career I tried to get stationed there or close by, but the closest I got was Okinawa. I would love to see more pictures of the place, because there was literally a whole town within that fence. You guys saw a tiny portion of it. Nice pictures though.

Comment on Checking out the neighborhood ruins by David Esch

David Esch — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:00:29 +0000

Interesting to see the old place again. Stationed there 1962-1964 at PACOM ELINT CTR. Walked from corner to corner many times. PEC was in one corner and barracks were in corner by the heliocopter pad across from Hq 5th AF. Train station was just a couple hundred yard outside the front gate past all the bars we called the strip. Went to the Airmans Club to drink and to the strip to drink some more and get laid.

Comment on UK student protest: Anger in the middle class by sarah

sarah — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 09:30:58 +0000

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the comment! I’m afraid I can’t agree with you, though. It’s an enormous problem when a three- or four-year university education, that costs a significant amount of money to run, has become the de facto standard in a society.

To put it in simple terms, for two people who have lived in Japan, think of it like brand bags. In order to be “fashionable” [intelligent? employable?], society deems it necessary to tote a purse from Gucci, Chanel or Hermes. So the government goes and subsidises luxury bags so its entire populous can maintain a socially-acceptable level of fashion. But in all reality, do we all really need to be so fashionable? Wouldn’t a good quality knockoff or no-name bag [mid-level local university, better secondary education] work just as well? Or heck, why not ditch the brand bags altogether and put down a smaller amount of money for a long-lasting and durable yet reasonably fashionable bag made by local craftsmen [trade schools, adult education programmes, etc.]?

I think education is a right, not a privilege, and should be free, yes. But only up to a certain level. The current system is unsustainable, and if these kids want to continue getting uncompromised educational opportunities like their parents did, they should be paying for it. Maybe adults paying for their children’s education would actually be the most thorough form of “graduate tax”?

Comment on UK student protest: Anger in the middle class by Media-friendly battles: More London education cut demonstrations - Simple Tribe

Media-friendly battles: More London education cut demonstrations - Simple Tribe — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 09:47:34 +0000

[...] to say, the spontineity of the first demonstration was gone. Anywhere a fire was being lit or a demonstrator was getting pushed around by police, the [...]

Comment on UK student protest: Anger in the middle class by Peter

Peter — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 13:18:08 +0000

Sarah,
Great article – very interesting to hear an insider story, glad to hear you didn’t get in any bother. I think you’re perspective on the UK system is obviously going to lack sympathy coming from the USA but I disagree that it is ridiculous to say that a univeristy education should be free. I paid next to nothing for my degree from Oxford and my brother acutally received a grant when he did his degree just 3 years earlier.

The problem is the change in priorities. Just because the American system involves students starting their careers crippled by debt doesn’t mean that is how the world works – that is the argument that was used to keep slaves in slavery, women in kitchens and smoking indoors.

England fits in to one US state quite a few times and even during the hard economic climate of the early 1980s univeristy education remained free – probably a major help to later recovery. Free education is a principle that should never be abandoned even if the way it is provided needs reform and limitation. In a small country with high taxation it can easily be achieved.

Finally, the anger against the Lib Dems is understandable given that they sold themselves as the party of the student and outright promised to tackle tuition fees. To then go and triple them will understandbly light some fires.

Comment on Checking out the neighborhood ruins by Kevin Malone

Kevin Malone — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:28:55 +0000

I was stationed at Fuchu Air Station in 1974–I was there up until HQ USFJ/5AF moved to Yokota Air Base. Your pictures seem to be mostly of the area that consisted of Bachelor Officer Quarters and the famous antenna and dishes (which must have been the old communications and weather operations area of the base). This was about 1/3 of the air station. From Google images of the air station, it appears that it is a portion of the base that once consisted of the NCO Club, supply buildings, the education center, and the aforementioned BOQ and comm/weather buildings. I visited the base in November 1980 and the base was pretty much in tact as I remembered it in 1974–the Air Force still maintained the weather and comm operations. I returned in April 1988 (rode my bike from Yokota AB) and rode around the fenced areas of the base, as it was configured at that time. The one thing I noticed was that the Japanese or local municipal government (?) had divided the base by adding several new roads. I imagine these are the roads that you now see in and around the base. While the main gate was still in the same area, I believe, it was later relocated further down the small street running in front of the base. In 1988, the AF still had its small part of the air station (where your pictures were taken) and the old “main” part of the air station housed the Japanese Air Self Defense Force operation, to include the old USFJ/5AF HQ building, which still stands today. The one thing I noticed during my 1988 visit was how much it changed and how it was a little difficult to recognize portions of the old base that I remembered from 1974. I don’t know if some of the buildings on the part of the base I lived had been demolished by then or not. They may have been. At any rate, it’s sad to see your pictures, because Fuchu Air Station and the housing area known as Kanto Mura, several miles east of the air station were very nice installations. After moving to Yokota, I felt we got the short end of the stick, so to speak. I say this because Yokota Air Base is in a piss poor location and is an overcrowded, ugly base. At the time, not may people liked Yokota, because in comparison to the other installations (like Fuchu and Tachikawa Air Base), Yokota was very drab. Thanks for posting your pictures. I may visit the area during my next visit to Japan, but probably just Fuchu City and Okunitama Jinja.

Comment on About by No quiet riot as mobiles help show protest to the world « The Moving Media

No quiet riot as mobiles help show protest to the world « The Moving Media — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 02:30:29 +0000

[...] Photo: Sarah Noorbakhsh [...]