TRAVEL

On March 6, the Kansai Airport Hanjokan, a store specializing in Korean merchandise, opened in Kansai International Airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture. The store will be open for a limited time. Located on the third floor of the passenger terminal, the sales floor has an area of 43 m2. Hanjokan is an abbreviated Japanese phrase meaning “Korea Information Hall.” “Han” means “Korea,” but a different character of the same pronunciation also appears in a Japanese expression meaning “prosperous business.” Hanjokan mainly handles Korean celebrity merchandise, DVDs of music videos and concerts, along with a wide selection of Korean foods and folk crafts and more. Almost everything is imported from Korea. Among the best-selling items are merchandise by famous Korean musicians like DVDs (1,900+ yen) and stationary, Potato Noodle Soup (600 yen for four packs) and Topokki Snacks (190 yen). The place has been so busy with airport visitors day after day since its opening that the store’s manager, Koichi Yoshida, said, “Now I really know how popular Korean goods are.” Customers include travelers shopping for souvenirs on their return from trips to Korea and those wanting to “build up their travel excitement” before embarking on a trip there. Hanjokan is open from 7:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. until May 31.。

On March 3, the All Nippon Airways (ANA) Group held an awards ceremony for its “My Skies” International Environmental Picture Book Contest in Terminal 2 of Haneda Airport, Ohta Ward, Tokyo. The contest is organized to impart the children of the next generation with “an attitude that values the environment, nature, living things and natural resources” and to offer “parents the chance to talk with each other about the environment.” This was the seventh such contest to be held. Picture books with an “environmental” theme were collected from June through September. There were 366 submissions from 20 Japanese prefectures and seven countries outside Japan by people aged 5 to 71. The grand prize went to Kazuo Akasaki of Kumamoto Prefecture for his “leaf paintwork” entitled “Sakura’s Blue Sky,” a work made only with leaves. At the awards ceremony, C. W. Nicol, the head of the selection committee, presented Mr. Akasaki with an official certificate, a prize of 200,000 yen and a further prize of 50,000 points in the ANA Mileage Club. As he greeted Mr. Akasaki, Mr. Nicol said the work was so wonderful that it was decided as “the [candidate] for the grand prize at first glance.” He praised it as “a picture book of a warm-hearted and lovely plane trip.” In spring, 50,000 copies of the book will be printed in Japanese and English so that children around the world will be able to read it. It will be available in ANA planes and distributed to daycare centers, pre-schools and elementary schools in Japan and abroad.。

Starting March 6, Kansai International Airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture has been selling the informational magazine Lmagazine Extra Issue “KIX Magazine” at bookstores in the airport and throughout the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe area. The magazine, celebrating the grand opening of KIX Airside Avenue after remodeling work in the airport’s international departures area is completed on March 15, is the original product of a collaboration with Osaka-based Lmagazine Co., Ltd. The 112 pages of the magazine have an “airport/travel/design” theme offering what an airport official called a “stylish presentation” of popular goods hidden at the airport, a rare behind-the-scenes look at Kansai International and interviews about the world’s airports and cities. Contents include: “Fly Direct from KIX! A Design Trip,” “KIX Interviews (model and actress Anne Suzuki, architect Tadao Ando),” “Find KIX’s Good Designs!,” “Restaurants for Travelers” and more. The issue is edited in Japanese and is priced at 680 yen. The opening of KIX Airside Avenue completes the airport’s first large-scale redevelopment project in the international departures area, which has been expanded from 3,600 to 5,500 square meters with a broader array of 41 shops including duty-free stores and restaurants, some of which will be open late at night in and early in the morning. There will also be new airport amenities and facilities set up, such as the KIX Refresh Cabin equipped with showers and nap rooms.。

Since February 25, Minato Ward, Tokyo-based UQ Communications Inc. has been taking applications for its high-speed wireless data transmission service, UQ WiMAX, on the Narita Express connecting Narita Airport with downtown Tokyo. Previously, joining the service required one to apply in advance for the Wi-Fi (wireless LAN) option, but now customers can apply using the Wi-Fi environment in the rail line’s E259 series trains. Customers do not enter into a contract for UQ WiMAX, but now they can quickly apply online and open a connection when they need high-speed internet access while traveling on urgent business. One can use a PC or other device with a Wi-Fi connection feature without the need for a WiMAX Express Card or other special piece of hardware. The usage fee is 600 yen per day or 380 to 4,980 yen per month (total of basic usage fee and transmission fee). UQ Communications has already been taking applications through the same sort of Wi-Fi environment in public spaces and airline lounges at 19 Japanese airports including New Chitose, Chubu International and Fukuoka. The company will gradually add more compatible areas and increase convenience for airport visitors.。

A research experiment is being conducted at Aomori Airport (Aomori, Aomori Prefecture) in which locally grown apples are buried in snow to enhance their flavor. It’s long been known in this area that using the freezing cold snow to store produce will make it sweeter and preserve its freshness, improving its overall flavor. Recently though, there are reportedly more proactive efforts to freeze and store produce for sale at a later date. A decision was made to make effective use of the snow at Aomori Airport and promote both the airport and Aomori apples. In late January, 20 cases of the prefecture’s apples were stored in a specially built “yukimuro” (meaning “snow room”). As part of the “Aomori Airport Sorayuki Apple Branding Research (Using the Cold of Unremoved Snow),” a theme of a prefectural project called the “Aomori Growth Strategy Survey Research Commencing in FY2009,” the airport is collaborating with the prefecture to conduct this experiment for the first time. The apples are scheduled to be dug out in mid to late April and sold in airport shops as Sorayuki Apples (meaning “Air-Snow Apples”). An airport official said, “[We hope] they become a new tasty product from Aomori Airport.”。

On February 19, Sumida Ward, Tokyo-based Keisei Electric Railway Co., Ltd. announced it will open its new ground transport service, the Narita Sky Access Line, on July 17, connecting Narita Airport in Narita, Chiba Prefecture with downtown Tokyo. Newly designed trains will travel along the route of the new line at speeds of 160 kph, the fastest in Japan on conventional (non-Shinkansen) tracks. It will connect the airport’s Terminal 2 and Nippori, Taito Ward in as little as 36 minutes, 15 minutes faster than the Skyliner that now travels via the Keisei Main Line. The company stated that by greatly reducing the travel time to and from downtown Tokyo, the railway “will provide airport access that also compares favorably internationally.” Fare between Narita Airport and Keisei Ueno will be 2,400 yen on the New Skyliner and 1,200 yen for riding regular trains (approval pending).。

Ibaraki Airport in Omitama, Ibaraki Prefecture will hold the Ibaraki Airport Cosplay Festival on March 14. The event is connected to the “Comiket Special 5 in Mito” being held on the 21st and 22nd in the city of Mito. It will be the first time for the airport passenger terminal to act as the venue for a public event after it opens on March 11. The event will be located inside the building and at the adjoining Airport Park, where there will be photo shoots in cosplay costumes and “cosplay fortune-telling.” A raffle is also scheduled where participants can win local specialties from seven nearby municipalities. Admission is 1,000 yen for cosplayers and 1,500 yen for photographers. Advance registration is required for both. Reception will open at 10:00 a.m. at the festival site. A full-blown cosplay festival is a rare event for an airport terminal building. An event organizer commented, “It’s an amazing situation you won’t get a second chance to see.” The festival will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.。

On February 17, All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. (ANA) declared that it will open a new route connecting US Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni (JMSDF Iwakuni Air Base, Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture) with Haneda Airport in Tokyo. ANA officials visited Yamaguchi Prefecture Governor Sekinari Nii and Iwakuni Mayor Yoshihiko Fukuda to officially deliver the news. The airline aims to start flying four daily roundtrip flights after the base is reopened as a civilian airport in fiscal 2012. Details such as aircraft models and flight schedules will be determined after considering market demand and convenience. After 1964, there were no civilian carriers flying commercially from Iwakuni Air Base, but in 2005 the Japanese and U.S. governments agreed to allow civilian aircraft to operate four daily roundtrip flights from the base. Progress continued thereafter towards making the air base a shared civilian and military airport. In February, the Japanese government officially announced its policy to reopen the civilian airport. The process will continue with preparations for establishing a company to manage and administer the terminal building.。

On February 16, five American airline companies announced they have applied to the United States Department of Transportation for permission to establish new routes connecting the U.S. and Narita Airport. In December of last year, Japanese and U.S. aviation regulatory authorities agreed to conclude an Open Skies agreement liberalizing aviation between the two countries, and the American airline companies are aiming to start service in October of this year when the new runway opens at Haneda Airport, which is re-expanding and internationalizing. American Airlines, Inc. (AA) is applying for routes from New York and Los Angeles, Continental Airlines, Inc. (CO) for New York (Newark) and Guam, United Airlines, Inc. (UA) for San Francisco, Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DL) for Seattle, Detroit, Los Angeles and Honolulu, and Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. (HA) for Honolulu. The agreement allows for new international landing slots at Haneda Airport for four daily roundtrip flights for the U.S. and Japan each, but applications have been made for routes connecting eight U.S. airports to Haneda, twice the number allotted. The U.S. Department of Transportation will decide which routes to authorize.。

On February 6, Itabashi Ward, Tokyo-based taxi company Anzen Group Corporation began offering a Bilingual Taxi service in multiple languages between the downtown Tokyo area and Haneda Airport. The company is responding to the diversification of travelers that will accompany the internationalization and re-expansion of Haneda Airport in October of this year by assigning drivers who can speak English, Chinese, Spanish or Korean to its Haneda Airport Fixed Fare Taxi service it first started up in December of last year. Reservations must be made (online only) at least 48 hours in advance. Fares are the same as those for the Fixed Fare Taxi service as outlined below. Haneda Airport - Asakusa/Shibuya/Shinjuku/Akihabara 6,000 yen 5:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. / 8,000 yen 10:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. Haneda Airport - Nakano/Ikebukuro 8,000 yen / 9,000 yen Haneda Airport - Kichijoji 11,000 yen / 13,000 yen A company spokesperson said of the new service, “We expect there to be more foreign businesspeople and tourists accompanying the greater number of international flights at Haneda, so we saw that there will be demand for multilingual customer service for getting from the airport to downtown or for going to the Airport.” Customers can also ride Bilingual Taxis with the company’s Narita Airport Fixed Fare and Tokyo Disney Resort Fixed Fare services.。