By I have seen some brawls in the villes in Korea, but never one as large as this melee outside Yokota AFB in Japan:
Bars near the front gate of Yokota Air Base have been placed off limits to U.S. personnel following what police say was a 30-person brawl in downtown Fussa City early Saturday morning.
The area, known as “bar row” in Fussa city, was declared off limits by military officials until further notice because of a “a recent incident and concerns over the safety of our personnel,” Yokota Air Base spokeswoman Capt. Tania Bryan said in an email Sunday.
The fight began around 3 a.m. Saturday in bar row, a garish collection of nightclubs, pubs, karaoke joints and restaurants not far from Yokota’s main gate, according to Japanese police.
“It is a dangerous area, and there are Yakuza (Japanese mafia) there,” said a police spokesman, who wished to remain anonymous, which is customary in Japan. Japanese police are investigating the incident, but no arrests have been made, the spokesman said.
U.S. personnel — including civilians — are now banned from entering all bars in Fussa City, Bryan said.
“This excludes on-base facilities and applies to all SOFA-status personnel stationed at Yokota Air Base,” she said. [Stars & Stripes]
Has anyone seen any brawls like this happen in Korea before?
8:08 pm on July 19th, 2011 1
Wow, the villes in Nihon-koku sure are nice and clean!
8:28 pm on July 19th, 2011 2
I was pulling staff duty NCO one night at Camp Casey when we heard a huge commotion coming from the EM club that was close by. The Lt. and I went outside to see what was going on. It was a huge brawl between blacks and whites. The MP’s rolled in a minute later and waded into the fray. The fight between the blacks and whites stopped, and they all turned on the MP’s. I think it was the inspiration for the song Ebony and Ivory. The MP’s ended up retreating. At least they didn’t leave their wounded behind as they piled into the remaining jeeps that weren’t too damaged. It was one of the most interesting things I saw happen over there.
8:57 pm on July 19th, 2011 3
In case it escaped everyone’s notice… The article didn’t once mention any service members being involved in the brawl…
The police only mentioned the Yakuza…
Who knows who was involved here? Anyone?
Never assume.
/Casey ville had some huge brawls in the 90′s- early 00′s.
12:10 am on July 20th, 2011 4
I once observed such a brawl in the Casey-ville as described by #2 back in 1991. Dumba$$ GI got into a spat with his Korean bargirl friend at the Harley Club, broke a bottle against the end of the bar and cut her face with it. After he ran out into the street to escape, 1001 Koreans came out of the woodwork to give this guy a beat-down. Dude ran right for the MPs at the courtesy patrol shack (used to be by the skinny train crossing) and tried to take refuge there, but the mob was brewing outside and plenty of GIs were there too, craning their necks to see what the deal was. The MPs had to take the guy back outside of the building and put him in a CUCV for transport back to Casey, and they did manage to hold off the mob while they stuffed him in the back seat. But moments later someone in the crowd smashed the back window and tried to pull the guy back out of the CUCV, raking his arms over the broken glass and cutting him up pretty bad.
Since the mob had already formed the powder keg was there. Don’t know if Koreans started talking trash with the GIs or the other way around, but once the first swing went down, it was an all-out brawl. As I saw it de-evolving into a complete cluster, I got outta there and made for gate 1. I heard it took a while to break up, and I also faintly remember that the whole ville being shut down (put off-limits) for something like a week or 10 days. That’s how it was back in the day…
As far as this Yokota thing goes, I’ve seen their bar row put off limits more than once over the last few years, since I’ve had occasion to travel through there a few times. At one time I was told it was put off-limits because drunk (supposedly US) revelers were whizzing and throwing trash in the yards of the resident’s houses between bar row and the Yokota gate, so there is some GIs vs. locals animosity there already. I too will be interested to know whether or not this brawl involved GIs or not…
1:35 am on July 20th, 2011 5
Back in 99 I parked near Fussa Bar Row. Stupid me it was in a residential area and my car got keyed pretty good.
I didn’t completely understand all the animosity back then (and that was the last time I ever went to Fussa Bar Row), it’s crystal clear to me now.
9:37 am on July 20th, 2011 6
There was a huge brawl out in atown near the end of 07′. Btwn some of the filipino factory workers and taxi drivers/random korean men. One of the filipino dudes got kinda pissed when the papa of one of the bars threatened his juicy…So the PI guy slapped the shit out of him, and left. Few minutes later that korean dude and his buddies jumped the filipino dude, causing other filipinos to jump in, and thus the atown brawl started. Lol, security forces were trying to get all GI’s on the bus so they wouldnt get involved….
Btw, ive been hearing from alot of my friends stationed at yokota that YES the yakuza was involved with that brawl.
1:36 pm on July 20th, 2011 7
I remember the King Club from 88-96 had a few fights in it on the weekends because the idiots from Casey would come down with the warrior passes and would think they owned the place. They were usually greeted with a slam to the head by a waitress and her metal tray. Yongsan Soldiers couldnt wait till the weekday when they all went back up north. Ahh to be young again !
3:52 pm on July 20th, 2011 8
Downtown Fussa City?? Ok. It’s about as backwoods as a far flung suburb of Tokyo can be. As much life there as a geriatric squash tournament. Grab your geritol, we’re gonna party in Fussa!!
11:18 pm on July 20th, 2011 9
Had to be mostly Japanese, there was already a 1-5 curfew there!
11:58 pm on July 20th, 2011 10
9. Aha! More fine journalism from Stripes!
2:51 am on July 21st, 2011 11
Just heard that 1HBCT at CP Casey just got put on curfew. I wonder if it is trickle down from the events in Tokyo.
3:26 am on July 21st, 2011 12
It was fairly easy and common back in the Team Spirit days to instigate brawls between the Marines and Army dudes.
11:09 pm on July 28th, 2011 13
The curfew was lifted early this year. There were military members involved in the fight and they were roughed up pretty bad. It all started when a female pulled out an iphone and started recording Yakuza members arguing in the street. One of the Yakuza members went over to her and grabbed her phone and smashed it on the grown and then mushed her to the ground. An American male saw the Yakuza guy hit the women and started to get in the Yakuza guy’s face. That’s what started the fight. The Yakuza guys called for packup and had more people come to find any military member in bar row and mess them up. It was a random act of violence that didnt have to happen if people would think before they acted.
3:10 pm on July 29th, 2011 14
I was stationed at Yokota Air Base, back in the early eighties. Even back then the Yakuza controlled Bar Row. No disrespect at all to the Armed Forces or anybody that is serving, but I just want to know something. Why are the towns outside of alot of Military Bases so sleazy?
3:37 pm on July 29th, 2011 15
Willie, obviously military bases are full of very young 18+ males. The local civilian population suffers innumerable bad experiences and thus, become hardened. The good people stay away at all costs and then the lower forms of life move in, such as the yakuza in Japan and the sleaze bars around Korea. These lower forms of life are the only ones that will do business with these young Americans.
Obviously it’s easy money but a very, very nasty atmosphere. Drinking, violence, stupidity. Wash, rinse, repeat.
5:12 pm on July 29th, 2011 16
Good entertainment, including the type of entertainment favored by young men, should be available on base.
7:07 pm on July 29th, 2011 17
14. “Why are the towns outside … of Military Bases so sleazy?”
Because the people inside the bases are sleazy. America’s best, yes. But soldiers will be soldiers. These aren’t exactly choir boys in the Yale glee club you know?
/former soldier
//former bar owner
///I know of what I speak
////still pretty sleazy
/////pent-slashie!