Here's is a link to the Official Misawa City homepage (english). The Japanese version, which has lots and lots more stuff on it.Official Misawa City homepage (Japanese)
Misawa (whose Kanji characters translate as "3 springs") is the 5th largest city in Aomori Prefecture (the 2nd poorest prefecture in Japan), which is not saying much since the largest (Aomori) is only about 1.2 million people. Its all perspective with Tokyo being so huge.
Misawa features an airbase that supports the 
Japan Air System (JAS) now part of JAL 
Japan Air Lines, commerical flights by sharing a military runway that has several interceptor fighter
squadrons, both American and Japanese. Misawa is unlike other cities in Aomori in that it
does not seem to have a special local food delicacy, industry, or that many touristy
things to do right in town. It mainly is a jumping off point for bus tours of the Oirase Gorge, Lake Towada, and Mt. Osore aka Osore-Zan all of which are famous throughout Japan
and should be visited during the Fall, right after the first cold snap for the best
"Fall Color". 
However, it is on the JR EAST main railway line north/south, so
you can catch the Tohoku express trains (called Hatsukari) up to Aomori city and even
under the ocean through a tunnel to Hakkodate city and beyond on the island of Hokkaido or
down to Morioka city where you can transfer onto the Bullet Train (the Shinkansen) for
your destinations south (Sendai, Tokyo, etc).
One thing that Misawa has a lot of is public natural hot-spring (usually) bathhouses
(called Onsen in Japanese). You can usually spot them while traveling around by looking
for this red symbol. 
It also appears as a symbol on almost all driving maps and english tourist maps of Tohoku
(Northern Japan). They are the single most thing about Japan that I miss everyday. There
is nothing like sitting in a sulfurous hot pool of water from the bowels of the earth with
snow falling on your head as you gaze across a river into the forest...total bliss.
There are several Onsen in Misawa city and the newest is Aoba onsen which is about 1/2 way up Route 10 headed for the Base main gate from the Misawa train station. Its quite modern with an "electricity" bath that induces high amounts of pulsing current through your body when you pass your limbs through the field between two metal panels in a shallow pool. I suggest only your hand at first, perhaps your legs or feet, but at no time put your chest between the panels. Can you say Heart Attack? There are warnings in Japanese about people with pacemakers and heart conditions, but not in english, so watch out. Its more of a novelty, and can be skipped as the rest of the bath pools are so much more satisfying.
Misawa Attractions:
The Misawa Air Base itself (USAF,USN, and JASDAF
planes) The Komaki Onsen, the largest baths in Japan, but not the best, alas. Check out
the greek statuary. YUK.
My first morning at Misawa.
Some of the more charming aspects of being in a rice growing area is the elegant care each farmer takes with the rice when it is being dried during harvest. The field in the distance is rice that has not yet been cut down. This field is just south of the Misawa train station, headed along the road for Towada City.
Cherry blossom season travels up Japan like a giant pinkish/white wave. The trees on the base are spectacular. Flag circle is a major display center for the base, especially around the holidays when the giant x-mas cards are shown off by each squadron and organization. The second shot is the former enlisted club, it has since been replaced by a brand NEW club built across the street. The scanner was acting up a bit on these shots as well.
Aeronautical History Note:
The "Miss Veedol" left the beach near Misawa and flew non-stop transpacific to
land in Wenatchee, Washington, USA, sans dropping its landing gear after takeoff. This was
the first non-stop transpacific flight successfully made. There are constant reminders of
Miss Veedol around the town including a large gas station by the same name and recently
completed outdoor plaza with a giant metal red airplane-like roof over it all.
My favorite places in Misawa City were:
Please note that I lived in Misawa from 1996 through 1998, but have since moved to Kunsan, South Korea and now onto Hawaii and thus cannot look up people currently there
or provide telephone numbers or addresses. NTT (Nippon Telephone and Telegraph) 
have very
nice staff and should be able to answer long distance information requests.
If you have questions about Misawa, you may E-mail Me
and I will try to answer your questions.
Here is a Misawa-FAQ of previous questions sent to me.
Here is a map to help you find out where Misawa is located in Japan. It is the black dot
on the map in the upper right of Tohoku.
BACK