Trip 9 - California Dreamin'

On this trip we set out to immerse ourselves in the culture and the nature of California. To discover its textures and see some of its natural wonders. We discover that California is very big. It is not a state that you can just pass through, it is, more than any other place we have visited, more like another country. It is a land dominated by mountains, the spaces between and like nowhere else, water.
Our start in the heavily populated area to the East of Los Angeles, known as the Inland Empire, is crowded into the lowlands surrounded by magnificent mountains. The feeling is of a cauldron which is trying to boil over the mountains to the fresh air of the rest of the state.
To the South is a band of Desert, which is the buffer to Mexico, which we did not explore on this trip.
We travelled North through the mountains (everywhere in California you can see mountains) to the desert, and on again to the huge Central Valley, mile after mile of intensive agriculture. Culture here is dominated by food, flatness, low income and trying to impact on the 'sameness' of the flat lands through music and festival. It is the communication and administrative corridor that links all other areas of California.
To the East is the huge mountain chain of the Sierra Nevada which clearly demonstrates the magnificence of the natural world, both in its geology and nature, reflected in the pysche and pride of most Californians. It is Eldorado, dominated by Gold!
To the West of the Central Valley are the coastal mountains, San Francisco and the magnificent coast. More isolated cultures, from mixed resources, communities seperated by mountains.
To the North of the Central Valley more mountains and a culture which looks more North towards Oregon than South to Sacremento.
This blog details our journey through California, where we pick and choose, or just scratch the surface, of this diverse and beautiful state.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Roam around Brookings and a strange story

Another bright day dawned.
We had confessed to Steve and Mary that we now had possession of their bread knife (having forgotten to return it last week) and all was well with the world. A nice gentle start to the day was augmented by Sally getting a trip to a local ladies hairdresser in Brookings, leaving me a couple of hours to clamber over rocks at Chetco Park, a beach headland. Took some lovely pics and enjoyed the sunshine.

Dropped in to the local Tourist Info and picked up the start of a fascinating tale with its roots way back into World War II. A tale which makes Brookings unique in American history.
After picking Sally up from the hairdressers we ate a Chinese lunch at the Onion Steak House and Grill. It was really nice. We decided to explore Brookings a little more. We wanted to explore its little harbour, its beach and the river which runs in to the sea there. We successfully did all those things and had a gentle but pleasant afternoon.
First though we just had to go to Brookings Library. Why? To see a famous Samurai Sword which belongs to Brookings City.
Why? Because it was given to the city by a japanese man called Nobuo Fujita.
So what is the story? Brookings is the only place on the American Mainland that was ever attacked by the Japanese.
The story is: On September 9th 1942 a Japanese submarine modified to carry a tiny modified Zero plane surfaced 25 miles off Cape Blanco, the plane carried two incendiary bombs. The plan was to drop the bombs on the tinder dry West Coast of America and cause devastating wildfires which would create terror in the hearts of Americans and cause a lot of damage. The pilot was Nobuo Fujita, he took off and flew to the mainland, when he reached land he dutifully dropped his two incendiary bombs about 16 miles from Brookings, creating a strong fire. He then returned to his submarine. He returned to Japan a hero.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) one incendiary device failed to ignite properly and the other one landed away from people and property and because of an exceptionally wet summer did very little damage.
However the plane and the fire were seen by two spotters, though they could not identify it because it was foggy, but could see the smoke caused by the fire. They hiked to the spot and found the fragments of the bomb, a small crater and some smoldering tree trunks.
Because of war time censorship the news was not released widely.
So how did Brookings get the Samurai Sword? In 1962 the Junior Chamber of Commerce thought it would be a good idea to invite the pilot to attend the annual Azalea Festival as a guest. This of course promoted all sorts of argument, with intervention even from the president himself, however it turns out that the pilot had spent years racked with remorse at his action and was only too willing to come to Brookings to promote peace. Despite threats to himself and family he came over in May 1962. He presented his family's Samurai sword, which is over 400 years old, as an offering of peace and goodwill to the country that was a former enemy, a genuine act of contrition and friendship that made the sword a 'gift of peace'. Nubuo Fujita returned three times to Brookings, the last time he planted a redwood tree in the spot where the bomb struck. He died in 1997 and the sword is now proudly on display in the Brookings library.
So we had to go and pay our respects to it and to the promotion of international friendship and goodwill that it symbolises.
What a great story - Only In America

Posted by fastrak at 9:39 PM

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