Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan

MCAS Iwakuni residents learn how to grocery shop - Mikie Watanabe, a cultural adaptation specialist with Marine Corps Community Services, shows Jaclyn Kupka, a Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Iwakuni resident, how to tell the difference between firm and soft tofu at Fresta Supermarket, Iwakuni City, Japan, September 20, 2019. Watanabe took MCAS Iwakuni residents to a Japanese supermarket to expose them to Japanese culture as part of the air station's cultural adaptation program. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Trista Whited)

Japanese, Americans build relationships in a unique way - Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni residents build a replica of the Kintaikyo bridge alongside Japanese locals during a Cultural Adaptation trip in Iwakuni City, Japan, Sept. 15, 2017. Station residents were taken to a hangar filled with wooden parts from Japanese Hinoki and Keyaki trees, the kind used to build the Kintaikyo Bridge, where they worked to create a model replica one-fifth the size of the bridge. The building of the bridge became symbolic for the cooperative, friendly nature between America and Japan, consistently working together in civilian and military environments to achieve mutually-beneficial goals. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Carlos Jimenez)

Mizuho Sugiyama, rice-planting event participant, places an award around Natalie Tice’s neck after the rice planting, which took place June 8, 2013. The award included a five-yen coin, which is the only Japanese currency to have a rice plant emblazoned on it. - Mizuho Sugiyama, rice-planting event participant, places an award around Natalie Tice’s neck after the rice planting, which took place June 8, 2013. The award included a five-yen coin, which is the only Japanese currency to have a rice plant emblazoned on it.