Mall Landing : Japanese Sailors Come Ashore--and Go Hunting for Bargains

The mall isn’t a traditional first stop for sailors when they hit port in a strange land.

But topping the must-see list for 120 Japanese sailors who arrived in Ventura County Friday was a trip to The Oaks, the county’s largest shopping center.

The sailors from the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force will attend barbecues and beach parties during their weekend here, and they will spend hours reviewing the missile tests that they performed near Point Mugu during the past two weeks.

But all that would have to wait until they got their shopping out of the way.

“We want to buy clothes and gifts for our families,” said Shinpei Sugimoto through an interpreter. “We’re glad we’ve had the chance to come here.”

The sailors, who were mildly hindered by their inability to communicate with merchants at the giant Thousand Oaks shopping plaza, said they hoped to find bargains with as little confusion as possible.

“From what I can tell, most of them are looking for deals,” said Andrew Hill, a 21-year-old Simi Valley resident who acted as the sailors’ interpreter.

“I told them they could get tennis shoes and they asked, ‘Are they cheap?’ I told them about the Disney Store and they asked, ‘Is it cheap?’ I told them everything’s cheaper than it is in Japan, and they said ‘Ahhhh!’ ” Hill said.

In the end, the greatest obstacle for the crewmen from three guided missile destroyers was a group of teen-agers at Robinsons-May, who tried with little success to persuade the visitors to sign up for store credit cards.

“I don’t think they’ll ever understand what that was all about,” Hill said.

The Japanese sailors spent three hours wandering through the mall, buying everything from T-shirts to electronic items.

Many made trips to a nearby bank and exchanged from $600 to $1,000 worth of currency to spend during their visit. Given the dollar’s recent plunge in currency markets, the Japanese got a favorable rate, bank officials said.

Mall officials said it was an honor--and a pleasure--to welcome the sailors.

“Of course this is going to be good for business,” said Diane Brandes, director of marketing for The Oaks. “We are always excited when groups like this decide to visit us.”

Brandes said she expected items such as blue jeans, perfume, tennis shoes and merchandise from the Disney and Warner Bros. stores to be the most popular.

“I would expect them to look for things that are uniquely American,” Brandes said. “And of course they are looking for bargains.”

In addition to discounts and promotions the sailors received, the mall gave them a place to store their packages and offered them cookies and sodas if they wanted to take a break during their three-hour spree.

As they roamed through The Oaks, several of the sailors marveled at the mall’s size.

“Everything here is on a different scale,” said Masanobu Uchino through an interpreter. “It’s much wider--much more space.”

U. S. Navy officials said the Japanese changed their plans several times as the sailors’ arrival date drew near, but shopping at the mall was always on the agenda.

“This was the No. 1 thing on their list,” said Teri Reid, a U. S. Navy representative. “Most of them are young and this is the first time they’ve been here, so I guess they wanted to do some shopping.”

In addition to their visit to the mall, the sailors played golf, attended a barbecue in Oxnard, and went to the beach. The commander of the group, Rear Adm. Michio Yamada, visited Port Hueneme City Hall to exchange flags with city officials.

Before they came ashore, 700 sailors from the three ships were part of a group of nine Japanese vessels conducting missile tests on the U. S. Navy’s sea test range, which covers 25,000 square miles between Point Mugu and Hawaii.

“It’s very exciting for us to get a visit like this,” Reid said. “I hope we showed them a good time.”