Nestled into the side of a hill not too far off the station lies a little building full of Japanese preschoolers learning all the fundamentals in preparation for kindergarten, but for one day a month they learn their ABCs and 123s in English from their teachers and Marines and sailors from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.
That one day came when service members from here taught and played with the children of Iwakuni Hoikuen Kuroiso Feb. 24.
“I have gone on these trips before,” said Cpl. Nicholas Cossio, a maintenance administrator for Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 12. “I keep going on these community relations trips because I think they are a really great way of giving back to the community.”
The moment the service members arrived, the Japanese children instantly started buzzing around them, only to be quickly herded by their teachers in preparation for the lesson.
The service members introduced themselves while the children repeated their names in unison.
After learning numbers, letters and colors, the children began to grow a little restless, meaning it was time for the “monkey dance.”
The “monkey dance” was not part of the service members’ plan. It was the children’s. The dance involved the children acting as different jungle creatures: it was not long before the service members jumped in and joined.
“After all that learning, the kids need to get up and do the ‘monkey dance’,” said Machiko Hamamoto, affectionately known on the station as Mama-san. “It helps them focus, and it gets them energized to go out and play.”
To say the “monkey dance” energized the children would be an understatement. Like little monkeys, they climbed on every piece of the playground, but they mostly just crawled on the service members.
“There was this one little girl who just kept jumping on me and pinching my cheeks, and the whole time she just (kept) talking, like telling me a story or something. I had no idea what was going on,” said Coccio.
As the day drew to a close, Hamamoto announced that for some of the children it would be their last day at the preschool before graduating to kindergarten.
After thanking the school’s faculty, the service members piled back in the cars and drove down the small hill, exchanging stories all the way back to the station.
“I had a really good time,” said Coccio. “Those little guys were lots of fun. I will definitely be going on more of these comrels.”