Word: furusho
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...mission. "We are well-trained and we are not afraid," he says. "We are ready to handle anything." What he's handling, however, is nothing more dangerous than the outsourced laundry of the Canadian peacekeepers who share Camp Zirouani with the Japanese. Outside, Akamatsu's commanding officer, Major Shinji Furusho stands watch for the laundry truck to return from the Israeli resort town of Tiberias. Two massive, white armored personnel carriers (APC) begin their patrol beyond the gate. Manning the huge vehicles are a dozen Austrians, barking politely in German over the roar of their engines. The Austrians patrol...
...life ripped out of the pages of Catch-22. Soldiers aren't allowed even to shovel snow from the street with troops from other countries because that would be an exercise of collective security. If the stable situation in their section of the Golan were to deteriorate into conflict, Furusho's men are allowed to shoot to kill only in self-defense. The Canadians have orders to use lethal force to protect themselves, U.N. civilian employees and the Japanese. That's one reason why the guard at Camp Zirouani's gate is always Canadian. "Japanese troops can't work together...
...Japanese troops under Furusho's command are mostly from the army, though there's a handful of navy and air force men. When Furusho looked for volunteers, he had three times as many as he could take. The soldiers get briefings on local culture, tastes and taboos and three months of English training - though their poor command of the lingua franca on base is their main operational problem...
...When the latest contingent of Japanese arrived two months ago, Furusho, 35, addressed newcomers and veterans at a hand over ceremony in the Canadian gym on base. "Unite and integrate, that's my order to you," he said. "Unite with each other, and integrate with the other contingents." Given their mandate that's difficult while on duty, but off hours reveal a different story. At the end of each day, Japanese soldiers jog with Canadians through the apple orchard outside the base, in the shadow of the balloon-shaped radar antennae of the Israeli listening station on Mount Avital. They...
...unseasonably hot sun, Furusho surveys the small rock garden he built outside his barracks. Next to the gray stones and tiny green bushes lazes Buddy, the company's guard dog. Buddy lies about all day on a green mat, barely moving. The joke among the soldiers is that the dog appears to do little but, if anyone tries anything, he would leap into action. That's maybe how they would like to see themselves. The lives of the Japanese soldiers here are not much more exciting than Buddy's. And if Buddy stays bored, that's good news for Japan...
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