MARU 5137

I agree.

Ah thank you Hubert. Great knowledge you have. Thank You Sir.

Peter, Totally... they are very much enthusiastic about all sorts of hobbies, from plastic aircraft model aircrafts to Ships, to cars and Dioramas. The whole country is extremely pristine and clean.. you don't find any litter and there are NO trash bins in public places, not in restaurants, not in drinking places(Inns) or in towns and cities. There is NO smoking allowed in streets, rural or otherwise. The Air is SO fresh and you do not walk wafting through other people's smoke! sidewalks have round yellow grates with warning telling you "NO SMOKING IN STREET" IN Japanese & English. You do not see any cigarette stubs etc.. One takes their trash back home to dispose of or in hotels trash bins if like ME you stated in hotels. Even hobbyist who collect bugs..are enthusiastic !! They have training and guidance instructions for any Earthquake that may occur. Children are taken from school to experience the simulation of an Earthquake by going inside these educational white Earthquake Vans. Also it is for adults and foreigners who have never been in an Earthquake unless of course you are from California and other such places. The gentleman (the Caucasian ) caught in MY camera is Meindert..you may have seen his contributions on other forum ( LSP). The Japanese pride themselves in keeping everything pristine, clean and as yo7 can see their Fire Engine and Fire Engine House is IMMACULATE. You do not see utility vehicles with dirty exterior nor any other vehicles, privately-owned or otherwise. Bicycles are properly parked as are electric scooters. I absolutely loved seeing how clean it was. It's a VIRGO's Heaven !! And not a Pot Hole on the roads in sight. Motorways kept tidy and amazingly clean...perfection !! I wish the roads in MY country were like that... and overgrown foliage cut down. in the photograph of the Tokyo Tower, kids are playing Baseball and their coach is nearby.

Thank you Gus. What about the one near the gateway..any idea what that is please?

Yes I think you are right. Thank you. VID_20240920_201356.mp4

This is on the outside roof of Hasegawa H.Q. Does anyone know what it is .. Sorry about the poor quality of the photograph.

This is Hasegawa building from the main road. And you then turn left to get there.. There is a train station nearby. The management were not friendly or inviting and refused us to have a look inside but we could look from outside ! There were not much to see except model kits being moved out of the warehouse. Also at the Entrance gateway, there is another one and I'm not sure what that one is too. Any Ideas gentlemen? Thank you.

Hello Carl, Thank you for the Birthday wishes. Chris to answer you, it's a quiet Birthday at home waiting in to receive a beautiful Rug to put on the wood flooring . Not exciting but a necessity. Leanardos is nice too.. there's a Hotel that toucan stay next to it... What a delight thing to have on your hotel doorstep.. And here are more photographs. There are FIVE floors at Yodobadhi -Akiba . It opens exactly at 10.00 hrs and the guard is there to make sure that customers are let in on time and greeted everyone. Of course I visited different floors and saw what they have to offer......from Wine to Sake to Sake flavored chocolates! Yummy but I don't drink Alcohol and the purchase was for MY boss !! Hope you all manage to go to Japan for the Hobby Shops which are fully stocked.

D-FORCE Hobby Shop. This is on a built up area with a few businesses around it on the main road and few houses.. Parking close by too. i also went to Akhibara Hobby Shop in Tokyo.. goodness it has over 5 floors.

Hello Peter, Thank You. Here is another Hobby Shop... and 7/11 shop with parking . The shop is only 30 or so paces away from this quaint little shop. The door with pictures show really old classic aircrafts. The shop is only the corner of a road and across from tge 7/11 shop. the elderly gentleman owner wanted his customers to wear masks.And there you can see our minibus that was air conditioned and had a label on the inside dashboard that said "Non Smoking Vehicle". Enjoy.

I love meeting people and chatting to them. I went with 4AVIATION Trip was to go to various JAPANESE Air Defence Bases to photograph Fighter jets.. Open the link and scroll down to read the itinerary and where I went. These guys are professionals based in Netherlands and if you click on their menu, you will see up and coming Aviation Tours. They arrange flights, rooms, single rooms if you prefer, transport, and the rest us up to you. Hotels in Japan where you stay ONLY offer breakfast. You buy your own lunches etc when travelling { and WE stopped at 7/11, Family Mart for that and to use their bathroom facilities wh8ch you can unike in shops in the western world }. https://www.4aviation.nl/tours/tour-japan-2024/ so I always wanted to go to Japan so what better way.it cost ME £ 3000.for the whole tour. Andy who was the TEAM LEADER, DRIVER and whose home ( his wife said it was too dangerous to drive home as we had returned late into the night !) I stayed at when I returned from Japan has been many many times as he a modeller and photographer of Japanese Aircrafts. He recently did the Oshkosh Tour 2024 ... So there you go Chris.

Hello Chris, Thank You very much . HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you too. Have jolly splendid day.

Here is a mixture of Museum photos and local Hobby shop. This Hobby Shop in the middle of countryside was the very First Hobby shop we went to run by a Husband and wife team with their extremely lovely pampered Cat. He is a modeller and is proud of his shop which features local modellers builds including his which he is proud of. The Diorama is the husbands!! They were very humble people who gave us free sweets and chocolates to eat while browsing. He says that local Japanese men ring him and order dozens of kits and when they come, he calls them and they collect. one such gentleman happen to come to collect his. he "pays" the shop owners by building them and bringing the finished models to display in the shop for the owners to "advertise" the kits. Others buy the way we do you paying him money !! There were good kits and decals and books. And having bought some of the lady's home made gifts, I was given dark chocolates in a box as a thank you { and I gave them some different denominations of English Sterling money }and think the others were a tad jealous as they both came out to give them to ME and wave at us.. That's their cat which greeted us. and one of the Canadian friend I made who is shown in the photo.

More .... I hope these do not bore you to sleep.

Ooh I LOVE the change... the Frecce Tricolori Aerobatic Team has gone through many changes in its history... its been around since 1952 and has been called many names with differing livery.. For about a decade before the establishment of the 313th Acrobatic Training Group the Air Force would assign the task of establishing an aerobatic team to a different fighter squadron. The first to be entrusted with this responsibility was the 4th Wing in 1952-1953, which gave life to the ‘Prancing Horse’ team, composed of four DH.100 Vampires, the first jet aircraft in service with the Air Force. The widespread approval and enthusiasm generated in Italy and abroad convinced the Armed Force to continue in this sector, but the role of the ‘official’ aerobatic team was handed over to the 5th Air Brigade, equipped with new F-84G Thunderjets. Thus, a new aerobatic team was formed in 1953, initially named ‘Guizzo’ (‘Wriggle’) and then renamed the ‘Thundering Jets’ two years later. The 51st Air Brigade also flew F-84G jets and represented the Italian Air Force with the ‘White Tigers’ aerobatic team in 1955-1956. In 1957, the ‘Prancing Horse’ team of the 4th Air Brigade, composed of four F-86E Sabre MK4 aircraft, returned to the scene. These were the first jets with smoke systems to be used by Italian aerobatic teams.For the 1961 season, the F-86E aircraft flew in formations of six. They were equipped with smoke systems, and they had a dark blue fuselage with a large blue diamond containing a black arrow on the tail. This livery was replaced for the 1962 season with today’s more familiar colour scheme, with the unmistakable three green, white, and red arrows on the fuselage and the sequential number in yellow on the tail. The team had now acquired its identity and the ‘Frecce Tricolori’ aerobatic team was born. I Love the new colors. https://theaviationist.com/2024/09/12/new-m-346-jet-for-the-frecce/ Beautiful head shot.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/ce3137lr03lo The Red Arrows have performed a colourful flypast at Niagara Falls as part of their tour of Canada. The five-week Maple Hawk tour is marking the Royal Canadian Air Force’s centenary. Susannah Goshko, the UK's high commissioner to Canada, said: "It’s fantastic that on the 100th anniversary of the RCAF, the Red Arrows have chosen to come to Canada to celebrate our shared military ties." Based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, the Red Arrows have also taken part in displays at the Air Show Atlantic in Nova Scotia and the Canadian International Airshow in Toronto as part of their trip. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the display team, officially called the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team.

Peter, The Hobby Shops in Japan are thriving and both men and women, young and old, and kids are seen at these shops { at the weekend when school is closed for weekends. }. More to bore you all.

James Earl Jones 's voice.. he appeared in many movies. This awesome actor passed away this week. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce81rkg87w8o

KeyStone hobby shop... Good job I am slim... very narrow and claustrophobic... That's the elderly gentleman, in red with his warm hat , who owns and runs the shop..he's been doing this for 50 plus years he said in his perfect English. His name HASHIZUME TSUNEO San. He can get you whatever you need and will post the model kits ALLover the world. He said he was almost 90 years old and been involved in model aircrafts since a tiny tot. { www.keystone-models.com ). He lives next door to his shop with gazillion cats !! The photo of him outside is full of kits and boxes of decals etc.. Every night he puts it all away in the shop(which is absolutely crammed from ceiling to floor) and house and each morning he brings it out and places it outside. Local Japanese men flock to his shop to buy kits etc... one was there while I was there....

MY photos... chose the best of the bunch. From various JAPANESE Air bases.. I apologize if I start to bore you. Let ME know... and you MUST go to Japan... Couldn't resist the last picture !!!

We asked for all sorts of new large model kits, HIDENORI MOCHIZUKI San was diplomatic and smiled.... didn't let anything slip out of his sweet voice. There is also a small gift shop within the H.Q.. He gave ME a free TAMIYA linen cloth bag.

Nah... Tamiya H.Q was amazing with smiling personnel. I was shown around by HIDENORI MOCHIZUKI, Assistant General Manager, International Division. Tamiya are based I SHIZUOKA. He spoke very good English and was a warm and friendly host.l; allowing photos and videos to be taken. Unfortunately as there was a huge meeting (C9nstruction and all things models ) going on at the time of the visit, I didn't get to see their modelling gurus and kit models engineers etc... Hasegawa wouldn't even entertain us so I had a look in their compoundArwa as their top Boss arr8ved in a fancy black limousine type car and they would not let us into their H.Q.. much guarded secret! But I did see the warehouse was open and many staff workers hauling boxes of kits. { i have hikacked MY own thread....... } Japanese Koi fish in the Tamiya "pond" beside their main entrance.

Not the best but got these.

I'm good. Thank you PW. Travelled to Japan in February returning in March this year. Went to take photographs of Japanese Fighter jets and other interesting stuff. Like hobby shops and Tamiya H.Q.. Saw lots of colorful jets and airliners...