It's a trade-off. I spent 18 months in Misawa; the summers were very nice, and Towada Park (a semi-national park) was less than an hour's drive away, with a lovely lake tucked up in the hills. OTOH, the first snow fell a week before Thanksgiving, and the last was on Palm Sunday...and in between, 240 inches of the stuff. I had to do patrols in it way too often!greg wrote:He used to stationed in Misawa, up until a few years ago. Like you, I think he'd rather be back there.
But like I said, there was the cheap Sapporo Beer, and the exquisite chocolates from Hokkaido, and 25% military discount on round-trip flights to Tokyo and Sapporo.
Did I mention that Misawa had the only jet-capable airstrip in the whole prefecture in those days? TDA came through at least twice a day, and of course there was always a JASDF fighter squadron and a Navy ASW squadron there (the USAF squadrons had left several years earlier). It may have been 'back of beyond', but it was busy enough.