Could it be that the Friendship Day festivals held at the U.S. Navy Negishi Housing Base are not as friendly as the name suggests?
For the last 14 years the Negishi Heights complex in Yokohama has hosted public family festivals. The events feature bands and traditional Japanese music such as taiko drumming, along with stalls selling food and matsuri souvenirs. Most attendees are families living on the base and Yokohama locals. At the Negishi Open Base Bon Odori Festival last month, yukata-clad children munched on hot dogs and danced with their families.
But not everyone is welcome to these biannual events — perhaps surprising considering the international character of Yokohama. Eric Fior, 37, a French teacher living in Yokohama, has been denied entry to the event two years in a row.