Sailors and civilians from Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka (CFAY) and tenant commands took part in street cleaning activities with local Japanese as part of a community relations project, Feb. 24.

Hosted by CFAY’s community relations team and Yokosuka City representatives, nearly 20 Sailors and civilians volunteered for the cleanup along with 16 Japanese participants.

“Ever since I have been here, everybody in Japan is extremely polite,” said Machinist Mate 1st Class Petty Officer John Rumph, part of the ship’s company of the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG 89) which is forward deployed to Yokosuka. “And this is a good way to give back to Japan.”

Rumph added that he feels it is important to do things like this. Since the base is right outside of Yokosuka City, it is good for the Navy personnel to come out clean the streets.

Each paired with a Japanese volunteer, Sailors and their local partners picked up paper trash, empty cans, plastic bottles and cigarette butts, cleaning the streets of the downtown area of Yokosuka which includes many restaurants, bars and cafés. The district is especially busy and crowded at night and on weekends with large numbers of Sailors, tourists and locals.

“I enjoy this very much,” said Risako Nasu from Yokosuka, who was paired with Rumph. “I am very happy to talk to a Sailor. Knowing that Rumph-san is stationed on a ship, I would also like to ask about his job.”

As a result of the hour and a half cleanup efforts, dozens of bags of trash were piled up and prepared for disposal.

“I like to converse with the Japanese nationals,” said Information Systems Technician 1st Class Petty Officer Crystal Guzman, who is assigned to Information Warfare Training Site Yokosuka, and was one of the volunteers for the event. “Given that this is a Sailor town, it is nice to keep it clean, because you (Japan) are hosting us here, we are just visitors.”

For 75 years, CFAY has provided, maintained, and operated base facilities and services in support of the U.S. 7th fleet's forward-deployed naval forces, tenant commands, and thousands of military and civilian personnel and their families.

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