The gates of the U.S. Air Force's Yokota base at Fussa in western Tokyo will be opened to the public next weekend, when the annual "Friendship Days" event is expected to attract around 200,000 visitors to soak up the razzmatazz festival atmosphere, watch fireworks and flybys and get up close to and even into some of the world's most deadly military hardware.

The base, which takes its name from another area to the northwest (apparently because the first U.S. servicemen habitually mispronounced "Fussa"), is one of only two USAF air bases on mainland Japan -- the other being the shared facility at Misawa in Aomori Prefecture. After starting life as the Imperial Japanese Army's Tama airfield, which went into service on Aug. 15, 1940, the base was extensively used during World War II. Then, after Japan's surrender (on Aug. 15, 1945) and an extensive repair and construction program, the first U.S. military aircraft landed on the new runway in 1946 -- strangely, also on Aug. 15.

In 1973, all U.S. military installations in the Tokyo area were integrated at the Yokota hub, which is currently home to around 3,700 personnel. Under the command of the 5th Air Force, headquartered at Yokota, the host unit for the last decade has been the 374th Airlift Wing, which has sole responsibility for the air transportation of personnel, supplies and mail over a 7.7 million-sq.-km area from Thailand to Micronesia.