Maizuru City

　　Does Maizuru Port ring a bell with you? If it reminds you about JMSDF, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, you would be under 70. The older people must be recalling the repatriation after the Greater East Asian War. I did sightseeing about the former side of the port at first. While I was standing at the pier, a sightseeing boat soon came close.
　　The tour guide on the boat was a former JMSDF official and must have been up to speed. As far as he kept confidentiality of information, he gave tourists a good lecture. The boat went round the port counter-clockwise. I saw the officer candidate school of the JMSDF and its associated facilities, several oil tanks, from which the supply vessel, Mashu, which I saw later, receives oil and delivers it to other military vessels. There was the JMSDF Air Station facing the bay. The choppers on the military vessels seemed to be maintained here and when the vessels started, they flew onto their decks. There were also several big docks. A few destroyers were there for upgrade work. The surface of the sea was calm and the atmosphere was serene, but there was a feeling of tension.
　　The destroyer, Atago, which I got on board in Matsuyama Port, was tied up. It looked like it was taking a rest just after coming back from off the coast of North Korea. Pictures show several vessels. The supply vessel, Mashu, whose number is 425 and the destroyer, Hyuga, whose number is 181, were larger than I expected. It might be because I was looking upwards from the small boat on the sea, but they looked reliable.

(Vocabulary)
repatriation 　(難民・捕虜などの) 本国送還
strict confidentiality 　厳格な守秘義務
officer candidate school 　幹部候補生学校
Hayabusa-class guided-missile patrol boats　はやぶさ型ミサイル艇
Atago-class destroyer　あたご型護衛艦