Category: Aviation

  • Flying an Airplane

    Flying an Airplane

    As I wrote in this entry of my blog, I became interested in flying an airplane last year; I had been interested in airplanes and aviation 20 years ago, but at that time, I was more fascinated by the women flight attendants who took care of the passengers in the cabins of airplanes than by flying itself. This time, I was seriously interested in piloting the plane itself.

    Of course, I don’t have the time, ability, or financial resources to attend flight school or have a flight instructor train me to get a certificate to fly an actual airplane. What I am trying to do is just a simulated flight using a flight simulator. Nevertheless, the 2020 version of Microsoft Flight Simulator is much closer to flying a real airplane than previous versions, so mastering how to fly in that simulator is enough for me. Most reassuringly, nobody will die or be injured if I make a mistake in the controls.

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  • The Words of the Year 2022

    The Words of the Year 2022

    The words of this year are: web3, Ford Focus, gout, and pilotage.

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  • Japan’s Northernmost End

    Though it was almost half a year ago, I visited Wakkanai, the northernmost end of Hokkaido. Since it was the beginning of January this year, it was extremely cold outside with plenty of snow, and the streets were very slippery.

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  • Visiting Maine

    Visiting Maine

    I think it’s too late to write this entry, but I visited Portland and Boothbay Harbor, Maine, this September. I watched a musical play, Carousel, at Kokugakuin Tochigi High School, performed by its musical club, a few weeks earlier. Carousel is a musical that features a love story of a young girl and a barker in Maine, filmed in 1956. That inspired me to visit this state and, if I could, eat some lobsters and clambakes.

    There were no direct flights from Tokyo to Maine, so I chose flights from Tokyo (Narita) to New York (JFK), and from LaGuardia to Portland (Maine’s largest city). All flights were with Delta Airlines.

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  • Off to Hong Kong

    Off to Hong Kong

    I’m going to Hong Kong tonight. I last visited there six years ago. I’ll be back in Japan on Sunday, 6th.

    Action items in Hong Kong: to get a SIM-lock-free iPad 2 and, if possible, an iPhone 4S in Mong Kok; to register a new address and passport number for my HSBC account; and to do some sightseeing in Stanley, Aberdeen, and Lamma Island.

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