AMERICA’S CUP ’92 : Coming to America . . . to Sail : Training: Nippon Challenge crew members battle language and cultural barriers--and the perception that they are in San Diego on holiday.
A football writer has been sent to talk yachting with a group of Japanese who can’t speak English.
Two years of listening to Coach Dan Henning has prepared him well for the assignment.
“Is this trip to San Diego really like some sort of extra-long vacation?” he asked. The last time the football writer saw the sort of expression that spread across Makoto Namba’s face was the day he stood in front of Jim McMahon’s nose.
Tammie Shigeta, international relations director for the Nippon Challenge, listened closely to the intense and prolonged reply from Namba, the team’s captain, and then offered a translation: “No.”
Maybe McMahon would be still playing for the Chargers had he also had the benefit of an interpreter.
The Nippon Challenge has come to San Diego, leaving cars, belongings and friends behind with the commission to return to Japan next May with the America’s Cup.
It’s a determined quest that began in April, 1987, in Gamagori, a small port southwest of Tokyo, and continues presently here. Six days a week, 6:45 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
“In Japan, lots of people have that (vacation) idea,” Shigeta said. “But coming here to San Diego, where America’s Cup will be, we would think people would think more of the America’s Cup as hard work. But it’s not (thought of that way), and we’re sort of amazed.”
To claim the America’s Cup, the Nippon Challenge will have to prove itself superior to 11 other challenging syndicates in racing that begins in January. If successful, it will have to duel America’s designated defender in May.
The syndicate has enlisted the world’s No. 1-ranked match race helmsman in Chris Dickson. Namba himself is ranked No. 10. Together, they have achieved fame and respect in yachting circles and, in 1992, they will take their effort before the world.
The Nippon Challenge syndicate, however, is toiling as if competition were to begin this weekend. The only holiday they will enjoy before this May’s World Championships is each Sunday of the week.
They have taken up residence in the Buena Vista Garden Apartments in Clairemont. With the arrival of 21 wives and 22 children in two weeks, the Japanese contingent will swell to more than 100.
“The sailing is no different (in Japan or America) . . . hard work,” Namba said. “The fun part is overcoming those fears (of living in a foreign country) and those are very challenging.”
The Chargers complain about five weeks of training camp in La Jolla, and these competitors will be away from home for 14 months in a foreign country.
They do not speak the language. If they want a telephone, they will have to solicit Shigeta’s help to order one. If they wish to use the telephone to call home, they will find it more economical to reach out and touch pen to paper instead.
If they elect to drive a car, they will have to understand that most folks in this country don’t drive on the left side of the road, as they do in Japan. Then they must pass written and driving tests.
“It’s easier to drive around here on the freeways,” Shigeta said. “The roads are very wide and everybody is not rushing around so much as they do in Japan. All our people are passing the tests.”
They must open a bank account, enroll their youngsters in school and, if they should get hungry late, find a Domino’s Pizza telephone operator who understands enough Japanese to hold the anchovies.
Getting the news can be difficult. Michael Tuck and Dan Rather might as well be talking to themselves. Namba said he can understand at best only the newspaper headlines. Some members of the syndicate wait for their newspapers from Japan to arrive.
Many have already located Target and the Price Club and have purchased television sets for their apartments, but Murphy Brown in English is just not the same as in Japanese.
“Everything is cheaper here,” Shigeta said. “A six-pack of soda would cost 600 yen in Japan or about $4.50.”
A $12 steak at a downtown restaurant left grinder Yoshiya Sasaki dumbfounded. A similar T-bone in Japan, he said, would have cost 10,000 yen ($70). He figured he ate $10 worth of food at a $4 all-you-can-eat diner.
Mazda, one of the 30 corporate sponsors helping to support the six-billion-yen ($40-million) campaign budget, has provided 22 cars for the syndicate.
Each car has a map--in English.
Sasaki went on a sightseeing tour downtown recently and, while he tried to follow the map, he couldn’t find downtown.
“But he found lots and lots of nice people to show him around,” Shigeta said. “He did his best to put words together to ask for help. Maybe the noun and verbs were all mixed up, but he got there.”
Without any help, Sasaki said, he found the “Red Onion,” but he has yet to realize his one true desire while here in this country.
“He wishes to go out with one nice blonde beautiful lady one day,” Shigeta said.
For those like Shigeta, who have a schedule that makes it difficult to share a car, there is “Auto Trader.”
“Is that right?” said Shigeta after being advised that most Americans consider used car salesmen distant relatives to Don King. “I’ll do my best.”
At the Buena Vista, the syndicate has taken a recreation hall and constructed walls to divide the large room in half.
On one side of the room, the local senior citizens continue to play bingo and cards nightly while, on the other side, the Japanese meet to eat and work out on their weightlifting equipment.
“We haven’t had the chance to talk with the other people who live here because of the long days,” Shigeta said, “but I’m sure they are confused by all these Japanese people moving in.”
Three chefs have been brought from Japan to cook six days a week at Buena Vista. Meat, which is often cost-prohibitive in Japan, is served daily here.
On the seventh day, it’s a search for American food.
“What would you consider American food?” Namba asked.
You know, Coco’s or Denny’s or McDonald’s.
“We have Coco’s and Denny’s and McDonald’s in Japan,” Shigeta said. “The music, Beach Boys, Levis, we have a lot of that in Japan as well.
“We are accustomed to American things, and so we are comfortable in California. If American sailors went to Japan for 14 months, they would have lots of hard times. It’s the language. You don’t really study Japanese, and everybody in Japan studies English from seventh grade.”
And right now Sasaki wishes he had studied a little harder. With a laugh, he gave a thumbs down to the question of what kind of grades he got in English.
“Reading and understanding is easier than speaking,” Shigeta explained.
Many of the youngsters who will be arriving from Japan do not speak English, but they will be attending the culturally diverse Doyle Elementary School in La Jolla.
“We have 150 to 180 Japanese children in our school of 650, and we have 34 other countries also represented,” said Dr. Carol Voelker, the school’s principal. “School begins in Japan on the first of April, so that’s why they’re coming here now.
“There’s such tremendous parental support for Japanese youngsters, so I’m sure they’ll do fine here. Since they don’t have green cards and cannot be employed, mom stays home and can work and care for the children.”
Nobu Baum, who speaks Japanese, will help the Japanese youngsters adjust at Doyle, but federal law also requires that English be taught as a second language for 30 to 40 minutes a day.
“In some cases, the Japanese youngsters in our school also attend eight hours of schooling at Wangenheim Junior High each Saturday in Tierrasanta,” Voelker said. “Parents have their children taught writing and reading, math and science in Japanese, so that when they return to Japan the youngsters haven’t missed their own curriculum.”
Meanwhile, the business of sailing and competing and winning continues on the water just off San Diego in a pair of Japanese yachts.
Sasaki left his job as an engineer, and Toshiki Shibata gave up his job as swimming instructor to come here and sail. And they couldn’t be more pleased with their decisions.
“America is just like what I saw as a kid in the movies and on television,” Sasaki said.
Said Shibata, “I like the good weather. In Japan right now, it’s very cold. Even snow.”
But for 14 months, they will be here without benefit of a return visit to their homeland.
“They have to really think of what they’re missing, so maybe they’re not missing anything,” Shigeta said. “They don’t really want to go back.
“It might sound funny, but we’re here for the America’s Cup and we do have fun. It’s what they chose. If we do it right as a group and try hard, we might get there. It’s not like we’re being forced.”
But they work so hard and so long and with such dedication. The Chargers practice for two hours a day, three times a week and after meetings are home by three. From the time the playoffs begin to July, they are on the golf course.
“Maybe four hours of their work,” Namba said, “is the same as 12 hours of our work.”