 Spring is a time for new beginnings, a time where fresh buds bloom and people come together to enjoy the beauty of nature. Here on Yakosuka Naval Base the gates have opened to share in this ancient Japanese tradition. Spring means to me the warmest and nicest time of year. Also we get to have a nice big festival here on base and we get to bring a lot of Japanese nationals and a lot of the U.S. sailors and our families get to interact with the Japanese nationals and it's actually a really wonderful thing and something even more special here in Japan is we have a cherry blossom season so we have these things called Hananami parties and this is kind of Yakusuka's big Hananami party. We invite everybody to come see ours so it's kind of a really fun time. Like the newly bloomed cherry blossoms Yakosuka Spring Festival brings together fun, food and entertainment for all to enjoy. I love both of base festivals because I get to hang out with a bunch of great people and entertain and just do our thing it's really fun. Headie Officer Brian M. Brooks, Yakosuka Naval Base, Japan.