Right after getting married in August
1980, Mary Jo and I left for Japan in December 1980. We lived in
the small town of Misawa until June, 1983. Billy and Patricia were
both born in Japan. My tour in Japan was for the purpose of
working in the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department, Avionics
Division. I also traveled on temporary duty to the Island of Diego
Garcia in the Indian Ocean (photos coming soon).
Misawa is located in the northern most
portion of the main island of Honshu, in Aomori Prefecture. The
average snowfall in Misawa is 125 inches per year. It was typical
to snow in November and for us to not be able to see the ground again
until April. Misawa Air Base is a joint services base, with
facilities being shared by the US Air Force, US Navy, US Army, Japanese
Air Self Defense Force (JASDF), and the Misawa City Airport.
Of particular interest are the photos
taken on the island of Hokkaido. We visited an Ainu Village, which
are an Indian people indigenous to Northern Japan, closely related to
the Eskimos of Alaska. The volcano, Showa Shin Sen is also shown.
The volcano got it's name because it was named for emperor Showa, it was
a fairly new discovery (shin is related to our word "new") and the word
"sen" is used to describe a hot spring. So "Showa Shin Sen" almost
literally means "New volcano discovered (or at least named) during the
reign of Emperor Showa."
Map of Honshu (Japan Main
Island)
