Shutdown brings curtain down on homecoming, festivals on overseas bases in Japan and Korea

Three musicians wearing traditional Japanese clothing walk through a crowded street festival. The woman on the left wears a red and black yukata while holding a saxophone, the center performer wears a light blue kimono and carries a traditional drum, and the man on the right wears a colorful patterned kimono with a red and yellow paper umbrella balanced on his head.

Visitors flood onto Yokosuka Naval Base south of Tokyo for the annual Friendship Festival on Oct. 6, 2024. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)

YOKOSUKA, Japan — Homecoming games and community festivals at U.S. bases in Japan and South Korea are either canceled or scaled back thanks to the federal government shutdown that kicked off the fiscal year Wednesday.

Yokosuka Naval Base, home of the U.S. 7th Fleet, canceled its annual Friendship Day festival scheduled for Sunday. The annual event last year drew the most people in almost a decade, nearly 53,000 people, many of them from surrounding Japanese communities.

The festival requires preparation by scores of volunteers and generates funds for mutual assistance and other organizations on base. No word on whether the event will be rescheduled. The base did not immediately respond to a request for further information.

“We know that many in our community — from local vendors and performers to base volunteers and planning teams — have invested significant time, effort, and resources preparing for Friendship Day,” the base wrote on its Facebook page Thursday. “Thank you for your enthusiasm and support. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and hardship that this abrupt cancellation may cause.”

The government shutdown continued a second day Thursday, marked by a deepening “fiscal standoff” in Washington, D.C., according to the New York Times.

Meanwhile, service members are working without pay and many federal civilian employees are furloughed. At overseas military bases, most essential services remain intact, including health care, day care and grocery stores.

But some social events that bring an air of social normalcy to military life overseas are off the table, temporarily.

At Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on Okinawa, the Futenma Flight Line Fair, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, was scaled down from an open-house event for surrounding communities and moved to the Ocean Breeze event venue at nearby Camp Foster. Only Department of Defense ID holders will be admitted, according to a post on Marine Corps Installations Pacific’s official Facebook page Thursday.

At Humphreys High School at the U.S. Army’s Camp Humphreys in South Korea, the largest overseas U.S. base, the homecoming pep rally and parade on Friday will go on as planned.

But the homecoming dance and the game itself against Nile C. Kinnick High School from Yokosuka is postponed indefinitely, according to a post on Humphreys High’s Facebook page Wednesday.

The game and dance will be rescheduled as soon as possible, the school wrote.

Likewise, the Robert D. Edgren Middle High School Eagles at Misawa Air Base, Japan, won’t be playing the Panthers from Yokota High on Friday as planned. That homecoming game is postponed for at least two weeks, according to a post on the Edgren High official Facebook page.

Postponed, too, are the Edgren bonfire, pep rally and dance.

“Thank you for your flexibility and support as we pivot to preserve the Homecoming spirit,” the Edgren post states.

All extracurricular activities, including school sports, at Department of Defense Education Activity schools are canceled or postponed due to the shutdown, DODEA Pacific spokeswoman Miranda Ferguson said by email Thursday.

“Schools will work to reschedule events where possible,” she wrote.

Stars and Stripes reporters Brian McElhiney contributed to this report.