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Civil servants and government officials enter into a sacred trust with the people of the nation they serve. So when investigators determined that a half-dozen members of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force had violated that trust by misusing government property, those transgressions had to be dealt with.
So this week punishments were handed down to the men for unauthorized eating of curry.
Curry has long been associated with sailors in Japan. The dish was first introduced to the country by visiting English seamen, and to this day Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels and facilities regularly serve the dish. At Hachinohe Air Base, a naval air station in Aomori Prefecture, it was found that an officer in his 50s had been eating curry from the base’s chow hall every Friday between July of 2017 and March of 2020.
However, this chow hall curry is only supposed to be supplied to personnel living in a base’s barracks or stationed on ships docked at a facility. The officer, falling into neither group, was not eligible for these free curry meals. An investigation into his curry transgressions found that 20 other administrators, clerks, and non-eligible staff had regularly been eating curry on Fridays for intervals of varying lengths since 2012, with the officer doing nothing to correct their behavior either. “People had been doing this, calling it ‘tasting,’ since before I became stationed [at Hachinohe Air Base]. I did not think it was a serious breach of regulations,” the officer said.
Nevertheless, on Monday the tribunal handling the incident handed down disciplinary action, suspending the officer from duty for five days and also imposing four-to-five-day suspensions on five other regulation-breaking curry eaters, with one person’s infractions having taken place all the way back in the period from April 2012 to March 2015.
The suspensions likely also involve forfeiture of pay for the missed days.
Source: Nikkan Sports, Yomiuri Shimbun
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- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2022/03/30/six-members-of-japans-self-defense-forces-face-punishment-for-unauthorized-curry-eating/
38 Comments
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snowymountainhell
Currious developments. - In the words of Infanteriemann Arte ‘Wolfgang’ Johansen: “Beri, beri interesting.”
(Interesting factoids and link, zichi ; ) - Thanks.
The Avenger
A red curry and a green curry had a fight...
Guess who won?
There was no winner...it was a Thai.
Kumagaijin
I bet they probably end up throwing most of it away if it doesn't get eaten. Japan is 5th in the world in terms of food waste per capita.
buchailldana
Maybe the were just trying to
"Curry favor"
Brian Wheway
I run my own business, and we go to hotel chains and motels to undertake work, we quite often get to know the managers, my point is that we get to see the amount of food that is thrown away just at breakfast time is unreal, ( which is given to us) at the end of service around 10am, all of the cooked food is disposed of, i would guess that this would be the same for Army, navy, airforce basses, so a few guys eating a curry, really? how petty, i would guess that most of this food would have been thrown away anyway.
Ben
I’m 80% sure this is an April Fool’s joke.
Rodney
If a professional army can’t follow rules about eating curry, what would happen if they have nukes?
Jonathan Prin
No one was checking ?
I mean can any soldier come and eat wherever he wants ?
wtfjapan
wish the SDF would curry up and get back to doing what theyre supposed to do,
make those pay for the curry they ate give them a warning. the end
ian
Maybe it was done to prevent division in the ranks?
Food is surely for eating but they weren't punished for eating per se they were punished for breaking a rule
KanseiConsortium
Sigh...food is meant for eating right? Dock the pay or expand it to all. This just causes division in the ranks.
WA4TKG
I know a dolt here that lost his $70,000 a year State job for doing the same thing (catered food) .
Consider yourself lucky.
A Canadian
This certainly won't curry any favor with his commanding officers, that's for sure. I'm sure he'll rue the day that he was caught.
TokyoJoe
This is an April Fool's surely, I doubt the British introduced curry to Japan? If so how did it go from delicious Chicken Tika Masala to the slop they call Japanese curry here.
Jind
Thirty lassies for each and every one and promise to not never eat curry for a month!
Japan has to act tough! haha
OssanAmerica
No it doesn't. Militaries all over the world have similar rules.
Cricky
It’s probably not a joke, any breach of rules no matter how small is an assault on the Japanese sense of order. And if it is a joke nobody would know because these jokes happen everyday? Too many people with too little to do making rules to justify endless meetings. I was admonished for not wearing slippers that were too small for my feet, oh the shame the shame. But it was the rule oh the shame the shame.
ebisen
We call these "percentives" - something to make the job just a bit more appealing. I understand the need to punish them, as there is always someone claiming it was "tsurui" - not fair to others... but..to demoralize a number of people like this, for a negligible loss, in times like these is really stupid and the leaadership there should have known better.
starpunk
I served in the US Navy and the rules were similar to what the others said. And officers ate in their own messes. Maybe the SDF has similar rules?
garypen
Did you miss the part that said forfeiture of pay?
indigo
curry dismissal. I will see all
GenHXZ
This story sums up japan culture so well. All about meaningless rules made up by people without any meaning to their life. Just 'work' for the sake of working - hence neverending redtape and waste.
Sven Asai
What a stupid bs. They are all 100% paid by tax payers’s money. So the curry rice meals are all free in every case, if ‘paid’, given for nothing, stolen or thrown away.
HBJ
If this isn't an April Fool then it's one of the most ridiculous news stories I've ever read.
Cricky
Can’t be flexible with curry? Good luck in a dynamic real war action? It’s the little things that matter. Like I’m hungry? You have curry.
Toshihiro
I served in the navy and we get mess hall cards for our chow or we just get our allowance and just buy our own food as what desert tortoise said. The title is quite attention-catching and is quite a fun article to read. The sad thing is that this is another case of Japan going full-on draconian on minor infractions of its people. I was honestly expecting these people to be stealing boxes of these, but they were just eating them. A well-fed soldier is a good soldier.
Hiro
Suspension is practically vacation for them. Giving them 5 free days. If you have them do some chores to make up for it, it might have serve as a warning. But definitely not suspension.
MichiTokyo
Must be April Fool
Desert Tortoise
The US military has similar rules. If you live on base you have a chow hall card that lets you eat free. If you live off base you receive Basic Allowance for Subsistence, or "BAS" in your pay and you pay for your own groceries. However one could always pay to eat at the chow hall if they so wished for a nominal price. All you could eat and some of the chow halls had really good food. I wonder if JMSDF chow halls allow those living off base to pay to eat in their chow halls?
Btw factchecker, I don't know the quality of JMSDF chow hall curry but a Japanese restaurant I still love has some of the best curry I have eaten.
factchecker
Who gives a toss? A non event. You couldn't pay me to eat Japanese curry so more for him.
diagonalslip
（ー△ー；）
K3PO
Keep calm and curry on.
Cricky
Well when your rule book is bigger then the bible people are going to miss a page or two. And really the curry is there already so are they. Fridays only? Comical.