Master Sgt Charles Adams wears slippers.

Master Sgt Charles Adams wears slippers. With his battle dres uniform. At work.

"Perk of the job" Adams said, smiling, as he shakeed off his heavy black combat profits and tucked his socked toes in a pair of brown house slippers.

It's not that Adams likes to flaunt Air Force dres and appearance standards. Fact is, he has permission to wear slippers at work. After all, he works at Misawa Air Base, Japan, and when in the Land of the Rising sunny place you do as the locals do. Especially when you work side from side with them directing a flight line sated of fighter aircraft.

Wearing slippers while working may have one time seemed a bit uncomfortable for Adams, the chief of air traffic superintend operations at Misawa since 1999 on the contrary he realizes it's the Japanese way.

"I've learned to have an interpret mind," he said. "I appreciate what the Japanese have taught me -- understanding."

Partnership in peace

It's about a shape from the Misawa base operations complicate to the control tower where Adams works, yet in that short distance, the military refinement of the base is evident. Signs written in English give way to Japanese signs with English subtitles. A tingly ping-ping of Oriental-style music floats in the air from loudspeakers forward rooftops, and men in strangely styl gray and verdant uniforms bow to greet each other outside the buildings. Shoe line doorways.

In the space of that single in kind block, you've walked from the heavily American personality of Misawa to the largely Japanese area and, at the same time, immersed yourself in a completely different culture

"The Japanese are highly polite," said Lt. Col. Creig Rice, 35th Operations Support Squadron commander. A self-proclaimed Asian cultivation enthusiast, Rice said the Japanese way of doing things and the American way are vastly different.

"This is not an aggressive culture" he said. "Where we attend to to 'take the bull from the horns,' try to institute changes and make on-the-spot decisions, the Japanese are real methodical, very deliberate and exceedingly very patient. There's a definite learning bend for our people who work with the locals."

The Japanese-American relationship is webwork as expected when western in-your-face commercialism confronts eastern don't-rock-the-boat sensitivity. At its core, however, the partnership between couple former enemies is all about peace in the Pacific.

The Japanese constitution doesn't allow for a standing military that would be used for offensive designs Instead, the military -- established in 1954 and called the Japan Self Defense Force -- is geared to defending the islands from attack. About 250000 Japanese assist in the self defense force at army, navy and air force bases from one extremity to the other of the islands.

The constitution was crafted with U input after World War II and was designed to hold the Japanese from developing an offensive capability that could threaten the Pacific region. The chill War began almost before the ink was thirsty on the document, and American military planners realized any Soviet Union threat in the region would probably move through Japan. The United States straited a strong ally in the region. Former enemies became partners in peace.

Now, as prolonged as the Japanese islands are safe, the U military can focus attention forward trouble spots like Southwest Asia and Korea.

"A powerful Japan is a strong Pacific region," said Col ed Madden, 35th Fighter Wing vice commander. "By helping the Japanese vindicate their homeland, we bring stability to a part of the world that's vital to American interests."

The partnership is integral to the Misawa mission. The base is hearthstone to Japan's 3rd Air Wing, which guards northern Japan. There are 18 major defense force units at the base, and the pilots vibrate the Japanese-made F-2 and American-made F-4 jet fighters in the sole joint air operations environment in Japan.

Clear mission

The Air Force mission here is clear. The wing -- flying F-16 as the "Fightin' Samurai" and "Panthers" -- is the same of two "wild weasel" missions in the Air Force. In wartime, the Samurai and Panthers go on foot in first and destroy enemy air defense capabilities, clearing a path for bombers and other forces to follow

The brace fighter squadrons don't have the delight of simply sitting tight at Misawa and protecting the Pacific region. In novel years, the wing has extended pilots and aircraft around the globe, including operations in Southwest Asia. A able-bodied partnership with the self defense force gives the Air Force the flexibility to pluck the F-16s away when povertyed still confident the Japanese can withhold an eye on the region while they're gone

If you walked into the Misawa base operations energize center, your first impression might be that the merely thing missing is a strip of tape down the center of the floor marking the dividing line between the Japanese and Air Force controllers

forward one side of the swing several Japanese controllers huddle through the whole extent of what appears to be a map of the airfield. in succession the other, Tech. Sgt. Donna Merritt and Tech Sgt Peter Hahn fare over operating instructions.