Japan Snowboarding Trip
August 13, 2020
by Chris Knight
Matt was the first Airman I had the privilege of supervising in the Air Force in 2001 timeframe. It was difficult, not because Matt was constantly getting into trouble but because he was the exact opposite. He was humble, funny, always trying learn something new. The kind of guy you want to hang out with. We went golfing almost every weekend to various US bases in the area. I was glad when I was reassigned to a different shop on base so I could hang out with him more in my off time. We once took an overnight trip to a ski resort in Nagano. Matt was always doing something so funny. After a day of snowboarding we decided to go in the Onsen or Japanese natural hot spring in the resort. The process is you strip down and they give you this tiny towel about 1 foot by 1 foot to cover your privates and slippers to walk to the hot spring. Well I go get in the hot spring first then Matt gets in and asks what did you do with your slippers? I said I kicked them off over there. Well Matt was wearing his slippers in the hot spring. Note that there’s also a 5-6 other Japanese guys in the hot spring. I just started rolling. See the slippers was just one part of this story. Matt had also recently got a tattoo on his arm when he was back in Montana. It was the Kanji character for Truth or so he thought but it actually literally translated to Nut. So here’s Matt with his slippers on in the hot spring with Nut tattooed on his upper arm. I can’t imagine what the Japanese guys must have thought. Matt later had a second kanji character added next to the first so it actually translated to truth. Boy...I wish I could remember all the times we laughed. I last got to see Matt on a work trip to Seattle in 2015. We hung out and caught up on the last 11 years since we had seen each other.
