Bird's Eye Views from Tokyo-Hiroshima Flights

Due to 3 internships at 3 different times of the year and 1 field research in Tokyo, I have taken the flight from Tokyo Haneda to Hiroshima more times than any other route that I have previously flown. In total, I have this segment 8 times on both Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways including one time on one of the first Boeing 787s ever delivered.

There are various reasons why I choose to take the plane over taking the Shinkansen (high speed rail) and the main reason is cost. Shinkansen tickets are expensive (15,000 yen one way, $180~) and are never discounted while if you book airplane tickets more than 1 month in advance, the price can be as low as 11,000 yen, $133~.

The Shinkansen takes 4 hours from train station to train station and the flight takes 1.5 hours so if you add in access time, the time required is around the same.

The side benefit of taking the flight is that you get to see spectacular bird's eye views of Japan ^^

In this post, I complied the pictures I took from various flights that I had taken.





Geographically, we start from Tokyo Haneda airport.

This is from the observation deck of Terminal 2 at Tokyo Haneda airport. It is exclusively used by All Nippon Airways.



If you look closely at the background, you can see Tokyo Sky Tree and the Tokyo Gate Bridge.





Nothing but All Nippon Airways aircraft. Including the first ever delivered Boeing 787?





Next, bird's eye views of the Tokyo skyline. Taken during landing.

The eastern side of Tokyo.



The theme park that everyone in Japan seems to love, Tokyo Disney Resort from the air.





View of Tokyo Sky Tree.







Approach to the newest "landmark" of Tokyo. The distinctive looking Tokyo Gate Bridge. You really get a sense of how long it is from looking at it from the air.









Next: Odaiba and Tokyo Tower.









Approaching Tokyo Haneda airport.





Next are pictures taken enroute from Tokyo Haneda airport to Hiroshima, westbound.

Yokohama from the air. Here you can clearly see the Yokohama Bay Bridge.





Passing over the Seto Inland Sea over Okayama Prefecture.

The Seto Ohashi Bridge (world's longest combined road/rail bridge) that connects the islands of Honshu with Shikoku.







If you just live in Tokyo, you don't get a sense of how mountainous Japan really is. This is on the approach to Hiroshima airport, which is located on the plateau of a mountain.