{"id":101,"date":"2005-11-16T23:51:53","date_gmt":"2005-11-16T14:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2005-11-16\/101"},"modified":"2005-11-16T23:51:53","modified_gmt":"2005-11-16T14:51:53","slug":"presidential-visit-means-really-big-hubbub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2005-11-16\/101","title":{"rendered":"Presidential Visit means REALLY BIG hubbub"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\nWow, the Presidential visit was indeed a huge hubbub<\/a> around here.\nPresident Bush flew into Japan last night, and helicoptered from the\nairport into the old imperial grounds here in Kyoto.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nThe previous weekend, the news showed, the US Air Force had landed one C5\nGalaxy with two beefy US Marines helicopters (becoming flight “Marine One”\nwhen the President is aboard), and another with a bunch<\/span> of support vehicles\n(such as three of the Presidential Limos). When you realize that these were\nbrought in half a week<\/span> before being needed, and that the President will be\nin several other countries within the same time span after leaving Japan,\none wonders how many sets of “everything” are being flown around the world\nfor one week-long trip. (I would<\/span> love to see the total cost to US\ntaxpayers, of which I am<\/span> one.)\n\n<\/p>

\n\nThe cost to Japan is not too trivial, either. Kyoto brought in over 5,000\nextra police officers from all over Japan, and they are everywhere that the\nPresident might even think of spitting. Of course, they are quite polite,\nand for the most part just stand like statues, at least around here. Fumie\nand Anthony and I took<\/span> a walk<\/span> yesterday evening, just around our area (the\nPresident was a mile<\/span> away in seclusion, likely having dinner) and it was\ncrawling with police, and there were big hefty “paddy wagon” urban-assault\nstyle busses parked all over.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nMuch to my great embarrassment, I found<\/span> the hubbub to be of intense\ninterest. For some reason<\/span>, whenever a helicopter<\/span> went overhead, I had to<\/span> run\nto the window to look. I wanted<\/span> to see Marine One land and take off (and\nindeed, I did,<\/span> from my building's fifth floor exterior hallway, although it\nwas night and hard to see.) I didn't<\/span> really care one way or the other to\nsee the President; it was the hubbub itself that I found<\/span> fascinating.\n\n<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>Lots of security everywhere<\/center><\/div>\n\n

This morning I took a bike ride to my bank, which just happens to be\npretty near the old imperial\ngrounds<\/a> where the President is staying. (It's at the corner of Imadegawa\nand Kawaramachi.) As expected, as you got closer, the police presence\nincreased, but things were surprisingly normal. Traffic was normal, and I\ncould<\/span> ride my bike completely around the old imperial grounds. (The\nPresident was at Kinkakuji<\/a> at the time.)\n\n<\/p>

\n\nThe public parts of the old imperial grounds are basically a huge<\/span> city\npark, which was of course closed off. There are many<\/i> entrances, and\neach one had at least one (and usually several) of those urban-assault\nbusses. That's in addition to the many such busses parked along the street,\nfull of battle-ready riot police, just sitting there twiddling their\nthumbs.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nMuch to my surprise, I found<\/span> out in the afternoon (thanks Nils<\/a>) that the President was\nindeed coming to my part of the city (giving a speech<\/span> at the Kyoto Kaikan,\nwhich is about 250 yards from my house). So, I'd be able<\/span> to actually see\nthe great hubbub of the Presidential Motorcade. Excellent.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nOf course, the police presence in the area increased exponentially, and two\nhours before the President was scheduled to arrive (for a 3:25pm speech),\nthe number of police far exceeded the tourists and locals milling about (of\nwhich I became<\/span> one). I spent<\/span> some time trying to figure out where I could<\/span>\nstand — the various police officers (mostly from other parts of the\ncountry) gave me different stories about where I could<\/span> be, but the general\nimpression was that most areas that you might want to be would be off limits.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nNow, remember, it's the hubbub that I'm drawn to, and so it was fun just to\nsit in a close<\/span> spot and watch people running around and milling about. I sat right<\/span> across from where the Presidential Limo would arrive. I knew for<\/span>\ncertain that I'd be kicked out in half an hour, but it was fun to just sit\nfor a while.<\/span> There were lots of police around, and two other locals, and\nafter a while<\/span> I started<\/span> chatting with the locals. It turns<\/span> out, much to my\ngreat surprise, that they were undercover cops. They were quite nice and we\nchatted for a while.<\/span> Besides telling me exactly where I'd be allowed to\nstand (thanks!), they pointed out all the other undercover cops, which was\nto say just about everyone who wasn't uniformed (there were, mind you,\nsomething like 500 uniformed police officers in the immediate vicinity at\nthe time.)\n\n<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>Two plain-clothed officers\nright next to me. Coincidence? <\/center><\/div>\n\n

\n\nAs the time drew near, I moved<\/span> to my viewing location (on Nijo street, just\nwest of Reisen-dori). Half an hour before the scheduled arrival, there\nweren't many people lined up yet (and I was<\/span> the only one who looked like a\nforeigner<\/span>), but slowly a crowd<\/span> gathered. Next to me was a very<\/span> old man,\nand next to him a well<\/span>-dressed couple with cameras (seen here in the\npicture, which is aiming where the motorcade will go). I took one<\/span> look at\nthe lady's perpetual scowl and knew that they were plain-clothed police\nofficers pretending to be tourists. Indeed, a bit<\/span> later I noticed<\/span> he'd put a\nmini<\/span> earphone into his ear. I smiled<\/span> at them, but they never smiled at me.\nThe first (and only) unfriendly officers I ran<\/span> into.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nEventually, the motorcade came. The first<\/span> thing I noticed<\/span> (while it was\nstill some distance away) was the telltale blue flashing lights (along with\nred) of an American law-enforcement vehicle. In America, such blue lights\nare illegal otherwise. In Japan, law-enforcement and emergency vehicles use\nonly red lights (garbage trucks tend to use blue), but it seems that anyone\ncan have any flashing light they want on their vehicle. Anyway, the blue\nand red of the motorcade cars were distinctly American.\n\n<\/p>

\n\nIt sped by at quit a fast clip, and it was surreal because there was almost\nno sound. No sirens. No cheering<\/span> crowds. No booing<\/span> crowds. A few people<\/span>\nwaved, but mostly there was just the whoosh-whoosh-whoosh of vehicles passing:\n<\/p>\n\n