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How everything began
Going to Japan has been a long time dream
for me. After having missed the 50th anniversdary of the Japanese
Air Self Defence Force (JASDF) in 2004 with its numerous special
colours I finally decided that 2005 will be the year to discover
this exotic country.
I soon found out that 2005 coincided with the farewell of
the Mitsubishi F-1, and the days of other exotic types like
the Mitsubishi T-1 or the V-107 are also nearly counted. Looking
for a way how to get around in Japan I also discovered two
usefull reports by Dutch spotters that travelled Japan a few
years ago. These reports were a great help to find out what
will expect me and also helped to motivate two good friends,
Florian and Patrick, to come with me on the trip as well.
As the autumn is generally regarded as the best travelling
season in Japan due to convienient temperatures and a low
probablity of rain a time span for the trip was soon fixed.
Finding the exact date was not difficult as it coincided with
the planned farewell show for the F-1 at Tsuiki on November,
12th. The week-end before another show at the Flight Test
Center at Gifu was scheduled and on Thursday, 3th, a public
holiday in Japan, the traditional show at Iruma would be on
our plan.
The Tour Planning
The tour was then planned already in April
accoring to the holidays we had around these days:
We wanted to use the the Saturday before the Iruma Show to
fly to Japan and arrive there on Sunday. Later we should find
out that on Sunday at Hyakuri, which is not far from
Narita Airport, a fly-by of the JASDF will be presented to
the Japanese President. This added later to our list as well.
Week 1
On Monday we wanted to visit Matsushima and the civil airport
of Sendai because our main goal was to go to very North
of the main island Honshu to see the famous and unique blue
Phantoms at Misawa.
Nearby was also Hachinohe and on our way back South
to the Iruma Show we planned another stop at Hyakuri.
Friday after the Show in Iruma we wanted to have a basevisit
at NAS Atsugi and use the Saturday for tourism at Tokyo or
spotting at Haneda, as the drive to Gifu was not very far.
 However,
these and all the later tour plans had to be changed in August
when we learned that the Tsuiki Show was brought forward one
week and now coincided with the Gifu Show.
So we could start all the planning from the beginning...
The decision to go to Tsuiki because of the F-1 was very easy,
but also meant that we had to drive around 1400km within two
days. On Friday we envisaged a first visit at Nagoya/Komaki
to get the T-1, which was also on top of our "to do"
list and the tourism part was switched to Hiroshima
on Saturday. Leaving early there on midday we wanted to have
a first look at Iwakuni and would reach Tsuiki
late, being able to visit the Airshow on Sunday.
Week 2
Monday and Tuesday were blocked for Nyutabaru and Kanoya,
a Navy base. Nyutabaru is the southern counterpart of Misawa
regarding the presence of fighter wings and because of the
most interesting F-15 Aggressor Squadron we wanted to be there
fortwo days to be sure to get good photos in case we had bad
luck on one day.
Going North again another stop at Tsuiki was planned
for Wednesday to have a full day of operational F-1s, F-2s
and F-15.
The next day we wanted to get up near Hofu, taking
photos at Ozuki and see the Shin Meiwa in the afternoon
at Iwakuni on Thursday.
From Iwakuni a nightly drive to Akeno, the famous helicopter
base, was considered with a second visit at Gifu Airbase
and a museum in the afternoon. Leaving there we wanted to
get as close to Tokyo as possible on Friday evening as Tokyo
tourism and photography at Haneda was envisaged that week-end.
Week 3
On Monday we planned to make another southern loop visiting
Atsugi, hoping for another chance to see a Shin Meiwa
US-1 and Hamamtsu and Komaki on Tuesday or have
an optinal tourism day at the Mt. Fuji.
Wednesday was regarded as a spare day to have a look at a
base where we might have had bad luck, or to recover before
the flight back, do some civil spotting at Narita…
But it should become different….
The Team
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Andreas "Flying Wings" was
the brain behind the organisation. As the only Canon
equipped digital photographer he had sometimes a hard
stand against the analog Nikon guys. But he remained
digital also on other fields. He checked out how a all
Japanese car navigation systems works, handles the GPS
and really enjoyed driving in downtown Tokio at night.
At the bases always looking out for better photo spots
and at supper time always looking for the next best
fast food restaurant.
Florian, our number cruncher, did most
of the hard hand work during the trip as he is still
using a fully manual equipment and thus had to concentrate
to focus all of the aircraft properly. Furthermore he
has been always busy in choosing in between one of his
3 cameras or writing down the numbers. He succeded quite
well in this, with only Nyutabaru and Hyakuri being
the exception. He was also always send forward to call
the youth hostels and therefore earned an extra degree
in telephoning by hand and feet with the Japanese.
Patrick was the only professional aviation
journalist of the team. So he was always hard working.
He had some problems with his equipment and a strong
flu blocked him from having real fun. But after some
good Phantoms, the smile on his face told more than
words. He did also a important job in planning: the
bible of our tour - a very detailed collection of maps
and information of every base, museum and airport was
put together from him.
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Our Euipment consisted out of:
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Canon EOS 1DII, EOS 30, Sigma 15-30mm, Canon 28-135mm,
Canon 100-400mm, Canon 300mm, Sigma 500mm, 1,4x &
2x teleconverters, Canon Powershot S1 IS
* 2x Nikon FM-2 with MD-12, Nikon F-70, Nikon 28-80mm,
Nikon 28-105mm, Nikon 100-300mm, Nikon 500mm 1:8, Nikon
SB-22
* Nikon F4 & F5 (both of them needed an intensive
inspection after our trip), 28-70mm, 80-200mm, 300mm
2.8, 300mm 4, TC-14, TC-17 and the small and handy Olympus
Camedia
Together we brought back around 8000 digital files,
filled +170 roles of slide and ~90 roles of regular
films, but most importantly experienced many many things
that we will never forget!
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The Car
Our trusted, tough sometimes also misused, Honda Isis, brought
us from Narita to all the airfields and back. 6729km
on Japanese highways and farm tracks, he always showed us
with its navigation system where we could find the next airfield
or supermarket. During our trip he consumed a total of over
500L of fuel . No wonder when rolling 1XXkm/h on the highway,
where the general speed limit is 80km/h...
On three nights he also served us as a hotel room and offered
just enough space for our luggage, the photobags and three
ladders.
However, we do not think that he will roll any longer after
our trip ;)
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