JP'23 - Uchita (noFly) / Koyasan

Much nicer wx (again), but still windy (albeit less than forcast). After breakfast, Atsuhi picked me up and we drove to Uchita/ Terayama, the only place around here offering at least a (very) small chance for flying.

Driving here in Japan, especially in the big cities, is much more demanding than at home: very intense traffic, at times rather confusing signalization and traffic guidance... Toll roads exist, but are rather costly.

Flight school at Uchita

As feared, the wind was still too strong. As an alternative Chikako had suggested a visit to Koyasan, a center of Japanese Buddhism (> more info here) - just under 1 hour driving time from Uchita.

What impressed me most was the original (?) forest with some very old and tall trees...

Danjogaran, the central point of Mount Kōya

Driving back to Osaka we passed Mt.Katsuragi, also a flying site which can be reached by Cable car. But we have been a bit too late to make a trip up to launch worthwhile; anyway the wind direction would not have been ok...

Fuel prices: 95 / 98 / diesel
(100JPY = 0.67CHF)

Generally traffic is a lot slower than what I had expected, thus the whole trip much longer than anticiated.

Tomorrow Uchita is supposed to flyable, so Atsushi will pick me up at 0730...

JP'23 - Biwako (noFly)

Not a promising looking day: at least not completely cloudy (as in yesterday's fcst), but very windy all over the place (N-wind)... I decided to go to Lake Biwa/ Biwako Valley, a mountain which could be flown with the proper wind direction. There is a cable car and chair lift to launch... Getting there from Shin-Osaka has been easy: about 1 hr by train with 1 transfer, then shuttle bus to cable car.

Lake Biwa; LZ would be on the small penninsula on the left...

Unfortunately it was not possible to go to the top, as the area opens only this Saturday (22.4.), access has been fenced off; but it looks to be an interesting site with the view over the Lake Biwa and the mountains should be soarable...

launch on top of the mountain (to the left)

rush hour

 

For dinner Chikako (and her daughter) invited me to (more) Sushi, so I took the train to Kobe; they even drove me right back to the hotel - many thanks!

contrary to back home, here you have to 'look for' the rice and not for the fish ;-)

JP'23 - Iwaya

As promised, Atsuhi arrived at 0600 and we drove to Aogaki for a possible flight at Iwaya.

Here I met again Tak-san; he is pretty well known here as in 1985 he flew a hanglider off K2 (?).

Atsushi, T, Tak-san

Unfortunatley, wind conditions have been quite tricky for the whole day. the pilot in the pix has been to only one able to launch in the morning (due to continous tailwind...)

Only later in the afternoon, there have been moments which allowed launching.

But even then, the conditions have not been easy; neither on launch, nor in the air and especially not on landing.

large LZ (necessary in these conditions)

pix by Shoichiro

On the way back we stopped at an Onsen for a dip

Back at the hotel by 2100...

JP'23 - travel: NRT - Osaka

After a night with not too much sleep I woke up to a sunny morning...

...and after an ample breakfast...

...I took the hotel shuttle to Narita Railway station for the first use of my JR Pass.

During breakfast I've gotten a SMS from the flight school at Ichijama (about 1.5hrs by train from Osaka) asking me to come to fly this afternoon, as the conditions seemed to look promising - unfortunately I'd be arriving at Osaka only later in the day ;-) I had contacted them about a week ago inquiring if they would allow 'visitor pilots' - something not all schools/ clubs accept. Since then we have excanged messages - thanks to DeepL, an internet translator.

Travel has been quite uneventful, except that the Shinkansen from Shinagawa to Shin-Osaka had been pretty full: lots of tourists...

My hotel near Shin-Osaka station even has an 'Onsen' :-))

In the evening I met my friend Chikako for dinner; in 'another life' we have been flying together a few times to NRT (be it via ANC or direct).

I also got a message from Atsushi, that he'll drive me to Aogaki/ Iwaya the next morning (leaving at 0600)...

JP'23 - travel: ZRH-NRT

...the long awaited travel day...

LSZH/ ZRH: Dock E

this would be the shortest way (Great Circle: 9'618km) (yellow line)

Unfortunately, during most of the flight, there has been a continous cloud cover below us...

exception: Kaukasus

note the 287km/h tailwind

descending into NRT: Japanese Alps (Oze Nat.Park?)

actual route flown (yellow line) ca 11'480km (GCI = 119)
GCI (Great Circle Index) tells you much how longer the planned/ actual distance is compared to the GC: in this case it's 119%.

flight replay

oder etwas übersichtlicher:

on flightradar.24

about to touch-down after 12hrs

Apart from a few 'bumps' the flight has been smooth and uneventful; I could even sleep a little ;-) The aircraft had been almost full, also at NRT many travellers and queues...

Immigration and customs went pretty smoothly - even with my prescription medications. But the corresponding documents have been meticulously checked. However, no one wanted to see the actual drugs... 

The longest queue has been in front of the JR Service Center, where many travelers waited to exchange their vouchers for the JR Pass. Together with exchanging my voucher, I could alos make the seat reservations for tomorrow's trip to Osaka.

not really traveling 'light' ;-)

By shuttle bus to nearby 'Nikko Narita' Hotel and a few hours napping in the afternoon. Now I'll try to 'force' me to stay awake, so as to get into the local rhythm as quickly as possible.

view from top of Hotel 'Nikko Narita'

Unfortunately on Tuesdays, the hotel's Sushi restaurant is closed...

Japan 2023 - the plan

overview

I know, it looks a bit complicated ;-) Basically the plan shows where I intend to stay (column 'overnight' in bold and how to get there); and what flight areas would be available (column 'Flight area'; an area in italic means, that I've flown there before).

'Golden week': that's the big holiday period in Japan, where (almost) everyone is travelling. That's why I'll be based in Kumamoto (Kyushu) from 25.4. -7.5. As in 2019, Yuko will be my driver/ translator/ guide here and Rick (Brezina) will advise me about the weather, suggest flight areas and 'open doors', as he knows virtually everybody involved in paragliding in Kyushu.

If the weather is promising, Yuko will also come along to Amami Island (coastal soaring). If not, I'll skip Amami, staying either longer in Kyushu or flying to Tokyo a few days earlier.

I'll be meeting friends in almost every place I'm intending to visit: Chikako, Atsushi, Saichiro-san in Osaka; Peter&Tekko in Kamakura; Koba, Koji&Mari in Hakuba and Masa in Aoki...

Getting there (and back): once around the world (eastbound): ZRH-NRT (nonstop; flight time approx 13std) and NRT-ZRH (nonstop; flight time approx 14.5std) with SWISS (Boeing 777-300ER); time difference ZRH-NRT: 7 hours.

ZRH-NRT (LX160) a few days ago
(Screenshot taken from FlightAware)

NRT-ZRH (LX161) a few days ago (via North Pole)

Long distance travel in Japan (Narita-Osaka; Osaka-Kumamoto) will be done by train; Kagoshima-Amami-Kagoshima/ Kumamoto-Haneda by plane. Getting around during the week in Osaka also by train. My Japan Rail Pass (which allows free travel for 7 days on the JR network) covers the period from departing Narita (19.4.) until arrival in Kumamoto (25.4.)

On paper it all looks very nice ;-)  BUT: all depends on the weather and of course the plan can/ will be adapted as far as necessary/ possible...
 

Japan 2023 - preparations

Finally !

Until today (13.4.) I have been waiting for the necessary permissions to import my prescription medications. The problem(s): one of them ('Targin' - an opiate derivate) is considered as a  'controlled substance' in Japan and one needs a permisson from the 'Narcotics Control Departement' to bring it into the country.

For the rest of my prescription medications, I need what is called a 'Yunyu Kakuninsho' as I need to carry a supply for more than 30 days. 

It has taken more than 3 weeks, many mails, filling out forms and revising them (and even a call from my friend Peter to the office in charge) until these permissions have been issued, as everything has been checked extremely pedantically :-(

I have to admit that I recently had quite some sleepless nights, as departure was coming close and I still had not received these permissions...

But finally everything is looking good and I'll be departing coming Monday (17.4.)

:-))