Kansai

[sdtj]

Kansai International Airport (KIX) is the world’s first ocean airport, built on a landfill island in Osaka Bay, Japan. Opened in 1994, KIX was a modern engineering marvel, built entirely as an artificial island. Because the site is built upon compacted fill, it suffers from subsidence, sinking 2-4 centimeters per year. The Kansai terminal is 1.7 kilometers long, and was designed by world-famous architect Renzo Piano. KIX is linked to the mainland by a 3.7-kilometer bridge, and provides air service for the nearby cities of Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto.

Four months after opening, the airport was severely tested by the magnitude 6.7 Kobe earthquake; it survived with only minor damage, and provided continuous operation during the relief efforts. This simulated-natural-color ASTER image was acquired on September 19, 2003. The full scene covers an area of 48.5 x 55.5 km.


http://img90.exs.cx/img90/3271/kansai2.jpg

[Vapour]

That's a very good picture, you can see Kobe airport U/C as well as Osaka's airport 2nd phase, the Akashi-kaikyo bridge...

[KaiNan]

Wow, that's so cool. That's a very good picture I ever see.

[Nick]

What a great picture.THe new Kobe airport is way out in the bay.I cant understand why they are going to build it????? Itami,the domestic airport of the region is just near Amagasaki.10 km from the center of Kobe.

[Draff]

Yeah it seems like such a huge waste of money. The government already has enough debt as it is. Kansai is also pretty empty these days as there's more competition from Itami.

[sdtj]

Kansai at its best...

http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/kansai/images/2_kansai_international_airport_osaka.jpg

http://www.kansai-airport.or.jp/english/map/images/parking.gif

http://www.kansai-airport.or.jp/english/access/images/accessmap_en.gif

http://img80.exs.cx/img80/6663/kansai8.jpg

http://img80.exs.cx/img80/6220/kansai7.jpg

http://img80.exs.cx/img80/3795/kansai4.jpg

http://img80.exs.cx/img80/8589/kansai1.jpg

http://img80.exs.cx/img80/3271/kansai2.jpg

http://img80.exs.cx/img80/1933/kansai3.jpg

http://img80.exs.cx/img80/5003/kansai5.jpg

http://img80.exs.cx/img80/2889/kansai6.jpg

http://img80.exs.cx/img80/1312/kansai9.jpg

http://www.yokogawa-bridge.co.jp/images/phopro03.jpg

http://www.transit-port.net/Galleries/Japan/images/Kansai.jpg

http://www.burnettsonline.org/JapanDec2002/Kansai%20walkway.jpg

http://nereids.com.phtemp.com/picture/honeymoon/kansai20030306-001.JPG

http://www.passcal.nmt.edu/~bob/gallery/images/osaka.jpg

http://www.igougo.com/photos/journal_photos/Kansai%20Terminal.JPG

:)

[Draff]

Nice pictures!

[PEK]

does Kansai mean 关西？

[PEK]

i mean 関西...........

[Vapour]

The second one is right, PEK :)

[Vinaboyz]

The Japanese government sure knows how to waste money. Didn't they build a $28 billion "bridge to nowhere" a decade ago?

[sdtj]

The Japanese government sure knows how to waste money. Didn't they build a $28 billion "bridge to nowhere" a decade ago?


I have no idea what you are talking about but, what does that have to do with this? Sounds like you are abit jealous of their achievements. If they waste it or not its their money, they can do as they please. If they have it spend it..

;)

[dom]

yes, the construction lobby in japan has a lot of clout in the diet, especially in the LDP. simplified, the LDP politicians get a small percentage cut of each construction project that is approved, japan's post office savings (the largest in the world) help pay for this construction bonanza and the rural prefectures have a disproportionate vote in the houses of parliament at the diet.

hence, rural shinkansens being built and overdevelopment. and hence, junichiro koizumi wants to privatise the japanese post office which will wrench the control of the postal savings from LDP bureaucrats to private investors, who should hopefully have wiser ideas about investing the nations cash.

re kansai airport, it is wonderful but it is in the wrong place! they should have built it just off kobe all along! i don't see why osaka needs a 3rd airport!

[Pangu]

I have no idea what you are talking about but, what does that have to do with this? Sounds like you are abit jealous of their achievements. If they waste it or not its their money, they can do as they please. If they have it spend it..

;)
It does sound like he's jealous. I've dealt with this character before on other forums and let's just say he isn't a pleasant fellow to say the least.

[kiretoce]

KIX is an awesome airport! I hope to pass through it soon on my next trip to Asia. :)

[hkskyline]

Chubu airport to add to Kansai's unease

7 October 2004
The Japan Times

By ERIC JOHNSTON Staff writer TOKONAME, Aichi Pref.

With the February opening of Chubu Centrair International Airport, its general manager of sales and marketing has a few words for those who worry the new facility will take flights away from Kansai International Airport. Yoshiaki Bito's message: Be afraid. "While Chubu airport will offer fewer international flights than Kansai airport, we aim to do a big business in cargo flights. As it will be cheaper to use Chubu airport than Kansai airport, Kansai officials are right to be afraid that some cargo flights might move from Kansai airport to Chubu airport," Bito said. About 20 cargo flights a week are expected to land at Chubu when it opens. Kansai, which sits in Osaka Bay, currently has about 110 cargo flights a week, and Narita International Airport near Tokyo, the nation's main gateway to the world, has about 270.

But as the cost for a fully loaded Boeing 747 to land at Chubu airport will be Yen 695,000, as opposed to Yen 825,500 for Kansai airport, Chubu officials claim - and some Kansai officials admit - the initial 20 flights per week at Chubu will quickly increase. Chubu airport is, like Kansai airport, located on a man-made island in the bay, but that's about where the similarities end. Unlike Kansai airport, which has come to symbolize grandiose construction projects that bleed red ink and now faces severe problems ranging from low demand to sinkage of the airport island, Chubu airport has gone out of it's way to do things cheaply and efficiently. "Chubu was built at nearly Yen 100 billion under budget,'' said Tetsuya Takahashi, another Chubu airport official. "There were also a number of engineering advantages that we had, starting with the fact that the seabed off Nagoya is more solid, and the water is more shallow than Osaka Bay. "This meant we needed less money for landfill,'' he added. "The whole project was done with an attitude of saving money wherever possible.''

The airport will open with one 3,500-meter runway. While airlines are still finalizing their route plans, Chubu is expected to serve about 1,000 flights a week, slightly more than Kansai's roughly 980. Narita, by contrast, has about 1,700. Of the weekly international flights, Chubu officials estimate there will be about 200 to the rest of Asia, about 30 to the United States and Canada, 30 to Guam and Saipan, 14 to Europe, and the remainder to Oceania and elsewhere. Kansai will still offer more than twice the number of international flights than Chubu, roughly 679 weekly to Chubu's planned 300. But what has Kansai officials worried and what gives Chubu officials confidence are the all-important domestic connections to international flights. Currently, Kansai airport has only about 300 domestic flights per week. Chubu, on the other hand, will offer 700 domestic flights per week.

"One of the big disadvantages of Kansai airport for many people from places like Kyushu, Shikoku or the Tohoku region is that they have to fly into Osaka's Itami airport and then take a 90-minute bus ride to Kansai airport. Or, in some cases, they have to come to Osaka the night before their (international) flight out of Kansai airport, because there are so few domestic connections,'' Bito said. "With Chubu's large number of domestic flights, especially to Kyushu and Tohoku, passengers will be able to fly in and make their connection in the same airport. Our aim is to keep transit time to within one hour,'' he said. Chubu airport could also end up attracting passengers in the Kansai region. From JR Kyoto Station, Chubu airport is about 90 minutes away if one takes the fastest bullet train to Nagoya Station and switches to the airport limited express. Kansai airport is about 80 minutes away by direct train. "The reality is that those who live in Kyoto and Shiga prefectures will have their choice of two international airports if they wish to spend the extra money (about Yen 5,000) it would cost to go by bullet train to Nagoya Station. If airfares from Chubu are cheaper than Kansai and the flights are more convenient, that is going to hurt Kansai,'' predicted one Kansai airport official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. For foreign airlines and many in the Nagoya foreign business community, the opening of Chubu airport is viewed with a mixture of pride, hope and caution. Many complaints of the Chubu foreign business community about the building of Chubu airport echo complaints heard from Kansai's international business community when Kansai airport was being built.

"Like the building of Kansai airport, the building of Chubu airport was all done in a closed way. A lot of foreign expertise and good advice was ignored in favor of keeping decisions within a closed circle of local businessmen,'' complained one American businessmen who has lived in Nagoya for more than a decade. But at least in terms of the terminal building design, Chubu officials did do something differently than Kansai. The Chubu terminal is a huge glass and steel structure with a modern look. But unlike the critically acclaimed sleek and colorful Renzo Piano-designed Kansai airport terminal, Chubu's emphasizes simple function over form and lacks the sweeping design of Kansai's. Both Chubu officials and foreign residents of Nagoya say the more functional design of Chubu reflects the fact that Chubu's leaders, famous nationwide for being frugal, would balk at paying a world-famous architect to design the building, as well as the general preference of people there for the practical and down-to-earth, rather than the flashy and extravagant.

[jap]

OH YEAH!!

[Victoria]

Awesome. :)