In a two-story, 573 square-meter concrete building is a community hall, a kitchen and a lounge with massage chairs. Residents in the city of Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, frequent the facility to enjoy table tennis, karaoke and even swimming in an adjacent pool. All activities, except for karaoke, are free of charge.
The facility is a remnant of the “special privileges” that the city, home to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, has long enjoyed in return for the burden of hosting the U.S. military base.
Located 250 meters from the north gate of the air station, the building, named Asahi Kaikan, is a facility run by the city where a doorkeeper is posted 24/7. Hideo Tameshige, 69, head of a neighborhood association that oversees Asahi Kaikan, describes the building with pride as “a special facility no other neighborhoods possess.”