Misawa

I traveled to Misawa Air Base in northern Japan in late October, 1985. This was only two years after Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by the Soviets in the Sea of Japan, not far from Misawa. Times were tense in those days. I suppose they still are...but for different reasons. My biggest fear on this trip was not the Russians -- it was flying to Misawa from Tokyo's "domestic" airport. Think back to the mid-80's and consider for a moment the difference between a major international airport, say DFW, and its nearby "domestic" counterpart, say Love Field. Now...suppose you have landed at DFW but speak only Japanese. You can probably find some translation help to get you to your hotel. And if you've chosen a major, downtown "international" hotel, you can probably find someone there to assist you during your overnight stay. They can no doubt get you into a taxi the next morning and direct the driver to take you to Love Field. But once you exit that taxi at Love Field...the next person you encounter is likely to be a Southwest Airlines ticket agent who might be able to figure out that you want to fly to Midland and who can surely process your credit card to pay for the ticket. But her sign language attempting to explain to you how to get through Security and where the gates are and how the flight is 30 minutes late, etc. will look like so much arm-waving. You are on your own...surrounded by a massive crowd that does not speak your language. This is what I expected at Haneda Airport after arriving at Narita Airport and spending the night at the New Prince Takanawa Hotel [where the sauce on the spaghetti I ordered in their Italian restaurant was -- I swear -- Wolf Brand Chili]. Even the "pay for your ticket in person" was true because, like Southwest, the flight to Misawa was on Toa Domestic Airways, a Japanese airline that did not "inter-line" with the major international carriers and thus my travel agent could not buy the ticket in advance (at least not through American's Sabre system). In those pre-internet days, travel was a bit dicier...

The doorman at the hotel got me into a taxi headed for Haneda, and moments thereafter, I had a good omen. The taxi driver turned the volume back up on his radio and we were suddenly listening to the 1985 World Series on US Armed Forces Radio! [Best I recall, this was a Wednesday morning, so it was probably game 3 played in the US on Tuesday night, Oct. 22nd, which also happened to be my niece Regan's 2nd birthday -- sorry I missed it, Regan!] As it turned out, the ticket agent at Haneda spoke decent English and I made the flight without difficulty. My work on base took me onto the roof of a building where I had a great view of the AN/FLR-9 antenna. Nice to see that it's still there...

[AN/FLR-9 at Misawa AB, 40 43 23N, 141 19 44E]