The residents of the Terauchi No. 2 housing project served up heaping portions of thick, tangy Japanese curry, with a side of steamed rice and grilled ham.
Older women, along with a couple of teen girls, played games with Kaito Sullivan, 3, and his big sister, Serina, 5, in the housing project’s community room.
They showed the children pictures on the wall of their mother, Masako Sullivan, whose organizing efforts have allowed hundreds of military families to help survivors of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the tsunami that killed more than 19,000 people and the nuclear accident that irradiated the Fukushima coast.
Near pictures of Masako, whose husband is a U.S. naval officer, were pictures of USS Ronald Reagan sailors, a USS Mustin patch, and holiday cards from Yokosuka families.
For a few hours, the Sullivans and Terauchi No. 2’s residents shared the mirth of reunited friends.
But their happiness was tempered by an unpleasant reality: After all this time, they were still meeting at a temporary housing project.
2014 Stars and Stripes