Smallville, Japan: small town America is alive and well in Japan's north country

Airman, Nov, 2002 by Mark Kinkade

Senior Airman Young Phung makes no bones about it: She hates being at Misawa Air Base, Japan.

"There's no cable TV, no clubs. Things are totally different," the 20-year-old New Yorker said. "I've never lived in a farm area. I like the big city, and this isn't a big city."

There are people who might agree with Phung's argument. Misawa isn't a big base, and the nearest city is a 400-mile, 10-hour trek over farm roads, toliways and through some of the most congested traffic on the planet.

For those looking for the frenetic Technicolor hip-hop pulse of cities like Tokyo, or the always-beating bass thump of big, crowded, bustling bases like Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, Misawa comes off about as exciting as milk.

But for many of the roughly 13,000 Americans associated with the base -- including 2,400 active duty people assigned to the 35th Fighter Wing -- losing the excitement of city life to the rural peace of country living is a fair trade-off.

Misawa, it turns out, is one of those "best kept secret" assignments, the kind people describe as "small town America" where you can "leave your doors unlocked, and your neighbors are your friends." It's a base, said 35th Fighter Wing Command Chief Master Sgt. Charles Clymer Jr., where the disadvantages pale next to the advantages.

"Misawa may seem a little boring at first," he said, "but I haven't met many people who haven't found this assignment to be their best."

A different perspective

Ask anyone on base what the downsides to an assignment here are, and they can usually sum things up quickly: radically different culture; isolation and harsh winters. Yet Misawa residents seem to have cornered the market on the whole lemons-to-lemonade concept.

Kristi McFadden, for example, had never been outside the United States when her husband told her they were moving to Japan. When she arrived on base, the culture outside the main gate was more than a little intimidating.

"At first, everything seems almost surreal," she recalled with a laugh. "It's like American culture in a lot of ways, but you can't read any signs, you don't understand what they're saying and they drive on the wrong side of the road."

Instead of hunkering down in her on-base home until the next Freedom Bird headed east, McFadden decided to throw herself into the daily life of the base. She volunteered at the family support center, and within a few months began leading groups of newly arrived airmen and their families on tours of the nearby Japanese communities.

"I meet a lot of people who are nervous about being here," she said. "I know what they're feeling, and I'm here to show them that it's not what they think. I've had a lot of people come up to me after they've had time to get accustomed to things and tell me they like where they are. That makes me feel pretty good, because it's a good place to be."

The Japanese culture is often perplexing. After all, when's the last time you had to take your shoes off when entering the local hamburger joint? And anyone with a baby will soon learn the Japanese have no problem taking the child out of your hands and cooing at it like the child was their own. Many an American mother has held an anxious breath until the Japanese person returns the child, smiles and gives a short nod.

They also drive on the left side of the road, always stop for pedestrians, like to touch blond hair for luck, drink lots of tea, have vending machines that offer everything from cold sodas to hot French fries and burgers, and have a tendency to eat raw foods.

"The Japanese culture is fascinating, intriguing and very different from our own," said Lt. Col. Creig Rice, 35th Operations Support Squadron commander. "At the same time, it's warm and inviting. The Japanese here go out of their way to make Americans feel comfortable."

Because it's a foreign culture with a hard-to-grasp language, some people will move to Misawa and never venture outside the gates unless forced. That's a mistake, Rice said. He tells everyone arriving for duty in his squadron: "Don't get stuck on the USS Misawa."

"It's a truly amazing opportunity," he said. "You can choose to sit at home, hide from it and wait for your time to go back to the States, or you can go out there and experience something a lot of people won't have the chance to experience."

Rice lives his own advice. He studies martial arts in the community. His wife works for the Japan Self Defense Force based at Misawa. The couple routinely takes family trips to locations outside the base, and he fondly remembers climbing Mount Fuji.

"I've always had an interest in the Japanese and the Orient," he said. "This is the best situation for me. It's a great job in a place I want to know more about."

Reaching out

The Japanese don't sit around waiting for the Americans on the base to wander out the front gate like nervous kittens walking through the front door. The United States has bases in Japan to protect Japanese and American interests in the region, and the locals appreciate the job the Air Force is doing. They treat guests in their country just as they would guests in their homes.