Japan........again.......so soon?!?!!?!?!?

[john1958]

I was VERY lucky enough to be able to visit Japan again last year, this time in November hoping it wouldn't be as cold as it was in December last year!! When I was keeping an eye on air fares, Helsinki was still looking to be the best route, and I really wanted to use JAL again as their in-flight service was VERY good, but this year Finnair were the cheaper option, so at least I'd get to fly on an A350!!
So, 6th November I set off for MAN for the 10:15 flight to HEL, OHLXM was to be my ride on the shorter flight, then a quick 2 hour stopover wheich gave me time to read a few bits off as it was still light, then I boarded OHLWF for the longer haul down to Narita.
I'd spoken to Steve before I booked, and spoke to Finnair who assured me that beer and wine were both free drinks on board, spirits had to be paid for.......ALL free on JAL!!! They didnt say that on board you had to call the crew if you dared to want a second glass of wine with your dinner!! Don't get me wrong, I never get drunk on a plane, it's merely to try and help me get some sleep, but come on Finnair!
Anyway we finally started our descent into Narita and touched down nice and early, baggage reclaim was quick as appears to be normal in Japan, immigration too, and I was quickly on the inter terminal bus to T1, and up on the roof......via Lawson for some water!!
A warm sunny day it was too, managed to log a good few numbers and take a good few photo's too, here is a little selection. As this was to be a 12 day visit again, and covering both civil and military I'm going to add a day at a time, and also not flood them with too many pics....lesson learned!! :-)

9MMAG-2 by John Spencer, on Flickr

9VOJF-2 by John Spencer, on Flickr

B309X by John Spencer, on Flickr

B1005 by John Spencer, on Flickr

B1475 by John Spencer, on Flickr

B1538 by John Spencer, on Flickr

B2574 by John Spencer, on Flickr

B3249 by John Spencer, on Flickr

B16823-2 by John Spencer, on Flickr

EIFNI-3 by John Spencer, on Flickr

HL7626-3 by John Spencer, on Flickr

HL8000 by John Spencer, on Flickr

HL8017 by John Spencer, on Flickr

HL8051 by John Spencer, on Flickr

HL8312 by John Spencer, on Flickr

HSXTD-3 by John Spencer, on Flickr

JA381A by John Spencer, on Flickr
Always nice to see an old friend!!! :-)

LNRKF by John Spencer, on Flickr

N215TM by John Spencer, on Flickr

N884FD-2 by John Spencer, on Flickr

OHLWF-2 by John Spencer, on Flickr
My ride on her way back to HEL.

RPC3239 by John Spencer, on Flickr

VNA607 by John Spencer, on Flickr

VPBWA by John Spencer, on Flickr

Well thats Narita on day one, my three compadres arrived after me, van collected, steps bought, and off we went.............

[ian531]

Cracking start, can’t wait for the rest

Ian

[deteulada]

Very good report and photos John.  Eagerly await day 2 to 12.  A small request, a new thread for each day to save having to scroll through a long ongoing report 😁

Bill

[Beemer]

John it looks like it is going to be a long and interesting thread but may I tell you that the Forum standard for photo sizes are 1024 x 683. One of yours is 5120 x 3172 and others are 5120 x XXXX which is basically as it came from the camera. They need to be reduced drastically as I don't want it to be like your recent report on your trip to the USA which is un-viewable due to photo sizes. My computer won't cope with it and from the PM's I have had others as well. Thanking you. Beemer, Administrator.

[viscount]

As stated by "Beemer", the quality of image needs to be down-graded greatly, or forum sites just cannot cope. Admin have no control over this, nor any magic wand to solve the issue, which is simply that Proboards system cannot absorb the huge amounts of data in an unadjusted image from a high quality Mb camera. It is their processor that downgrades the image quality between a request to Flickr and showing on our screens, which takes time so results in slow downloading. In just the same way as my e-mail (gmail) will not load and send more than 4 high definition images at a time and takes a while to load them, but will load in a fraction of the time 15 images reduced to 1000 pixels width quite happily.

The solution to the issue lies with the posting member reducing the image quality, therefore file size between download on to their PC and upload to Flickr (or any image host site). I cannot comment on Photoshop or other editing suites, but on the now discontinued Picasa programme I use, once I have selected the images to bulk-upload to a photo-host site (eg Flickr) I am requested to select the quality and pixel width. There is also the option to export the images I wish to load at the original quality - which is the setting John appears to be using. The ideal quality is 1000-1024 pixels in width which is what myself, Breemer, Philglt, Blue Aircraft, Avro 748, Acklington, AlexIoM and other regular image posters use automatically.

I'm impatient to see what delights John photographed in Japan this time around as I am quite sure he as some amazing images to share, but while posted at original quality, I for one (due to low speed connection being at the end of the line) don't see them as they mostly 'time out' before fully loaded. The problem is not too many pictures to a post (not long ago there was a post with over 50 images with no downloading problems), the issue with any high resolution images posted without image quality adjustment. On a normal desktop computer screen I'm told it is not possible for the eye to detect the difference between a 3mb camera image and a 30mb image, so the image pixel reduction does not alter the viewing quality much.

[john1958]

Hi all

Bill, that was my cunning plan, a new post per day.

Beemer/Viscount, sorry I totally forgot re image size. I think from flikr I can just select a different image size, so I will do that for day two.......hopefully get that on this evening, or maybe tomoz.

John

[northbynorthwest]

It is amazing how Narita has changed over the years. I started going to Japan in 1990, and have been there at least once or twice every year since. When I first started going, literally everything was operated by a 747. Perhaps a handful of DC10's or L1011's, no narrow bodies except for some Continental Micronesia 727's. There was a 707 combi operating out of there owned by a Japanese conglomerate called Minebea. If you saw it there, it looked tiny, being dwarfed by all the other aircraft. Flights to Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, all just a 2-3 hour flight were all operated by 747's. You would see around 20 Northwest 747 passenger aircraft rotate through Narita daily, plus up to 8 747 freighters as well. We were the second largest carrier in Narita at that time. It really was a sight to behold.

Even before Haneda started accepting international flights, the make up of flights into Narita was changing, with 747's winding down, 777's increasing, and narrow body aircraft operating to ever more cities in the Far East. Now, the most common aircraft are the A320 and 737 families, with the 777 and A330 being the most common wide bodies. 747's are becoming increasingly scarce, as they are worldwide. Low cost carriers are sprouting up throughout Southeast Asia, as can be seen by the huge variety of color schemes in John's pictures. Narita has become the de facto low cost airport for Tokyo, and is busier than ever.

For me, my employer, Delta, will switch all operations to Haneda in March. It is going to be a sad day and the end of an era. Going to miss Narita, both the airport and the city with its beautiful temples. I will still be going to Tokyo, but it just won't be the same.

[john1958]

I've been VERY lucky to visit twice in under a year. I dont think I will go again this year....but never say never!!

The 787 seems to be the main bird in the area now, with both "home" teams using them, plus United from the US, Scoot, ANZ, Singapore, and you see all three variants too!!

The cities/towns the people as well as the temples too, it really IS a great place to visit, and not just for our hobby!!!!

John