These Phantoms were taxiing towards me from the ramp and they headed out to depart. As the came along the taxiway, I got a moment as they started to merge from my position and, briefly, there was a moment when one was hidden behind the other with the exception of the wings. For that second I had a Phantom bi-plane in front of me before the effect was gone. I consider this the rare Phantom II/IV!
I know a few of the regulars here are interested in trains. I saw a lot of different trains and rode on a few while I was in Japan so here are a selection of them for those of you that are interested. Most of these were shot around Tokyo itself but I can’t tell you what sort of services most of them were used on. I only rode on a few to get to airports or districts in the city.
Haneda introduced me to a new airline. Air Do. They had a lot of traffic coming through Haneda, both narrowbody and widebody. In fact, one of their 767s took off in great light as I was walking to the viewing terrace which was a touch frustrating. It was a long time before another one took off but at least the evening light improved so the wait was worthwhile. Meanwhile, the 737s were busy and some 767s taxied past after landing so I got to see a few of them in action.
I passed this locomotive several times while in Tokyo. It was sitting in a square near Shinbashi station. I never got off but I did finally get some shots of it while we were stopped at the station. Consequently, I know nothing about it although I suppose if I was truly interested I could look it up. There must be something about it on the internet. It probably has a Wikipedia page. Guess I won’t find out though.
Hyakuri might be a base for Phantoms but it also comes with a ton of Kawasaki T-4s. The JASDF allocate T-4s to the squadrons to provide utility and training so you see a few of them on each of the ramps in squadron markings. I think this was the first time I had seen a T-4 for real. Having seen so many images of them over the years, I felt like I must have seen them but I don’t think I have. It is an interesting looking jet. A lot of similarity to the configuration of the Alpha Jet with a high wing and twin engines. It seemed to have a reasonable level of performance. Interestingly, they taxied with the canopy open which is something I don’t think I have ever seen done with the Hawk. Maybe the air conditioning isn’t great on the ground or maybe they just like it!
An abiding memory of Japan was the vending machines in every place. It seemed like every building had a vending machine for drinks by the front door. Even the least active looking building still seemed to have one. They came in handy when it was hot although I was often taking a guess as to what I was actually buying!
I was taking it easy as I walked through Yoyogi Park. The intense heat and humidity meant I was trying to minimize my effort. That was not the case for everyone, though. I was amazed at how many people were out running in the park. Given the conditions, they must have been really feeling it as they ran but this didn’t seem to be a deterrent. Kudos to them all. My stroll was a bit much for me but I only had a narrow window to be there so I had no choice!
Japanese jets have a reputation for interesting colors and, while the fighter units were pretty dull gray, the recce jets were far more interesting. Most of the flying jets I saw were in the blue camo scheme and they look very nice. One the first wave I saw, there was also a jet in green and brown camo. Sadly it only flew once and I messed up a bunch of my shots. The other scheme on the ramp was a green and grey scheme that looked a lot like the old German colors. Sadly, it stayed on the ramp the entire time I was there.
This spider web was attached to one of the towers at Hyakuri. The web thread was quite a heavy gauge compared to what I normally see and I was fascinated by the way it was attached to the wood. Multiple strands were attached in a ring forming a cone of thread that merged in to the mainline. It was quite a feat of engineering.
I nearly missed this one. A JAL 737 was taxiing in at Haneda and the guy next to me seemed very interested in it. He was shooting it when it was still a long way off and I didn’t know why. As it got closer, I could see two Japanese flags flying from the cockpit windows. I figured it must be something so grabbed a few shots. As soon as it was gone, he packed up and left. Talking to someone the following day, he told me that JAL currently has the royal transportation contract and that includes some flights on the narrow body fleet. I guess someone royal was on this flight.
