Flying in Osaka and Greater Japan - maybe Fukushima?

[StrayaMavic]

Hey Pilots!

I am sitting in the terminal waiting to board a flight to Japan, I am going to visit Osaka, Kyoto and anywhere else worth flying. And that's the point of the post. Any recommendations?

I am very tempted to go up to Fukushima area and see if I can get some great shots over the no go zones. Does anyone have any experience with doing this?

Cheers!

 

[Macariushk]

Japan has very strict flying rules
Be aware

 

[StrayaMavic]

Is it safe to just follow the DJI no fly map?

 

[StrayaMavic]

Shameless bump. I cant seem to find anything more than dont fly over densly populated areas and use the dji no fly map.

 

[Nathan Hoover]

In Japan not only can you not fly over densely populated areas, you can't fly over populated areas at all. Even small towns. I stuck to coastlines and deserted areas between towns. In the Kyoto area, I flew up into the hills from a park above Arashiyama, but not in town. On the plus side you can go to 500' instead of 400'. I did some cool flights up in the north - just this time last year: http://www.flynathan.com/pano/hirosaki.html

 

[StrayaMavic]

Hmmm interesting. If so then would that also include not allowed to fly over parks and stuff like at Nara and near Mt Fuji?

Would it be also fair to say that unless you're renting a car you're not going to be able to get far enough away from people to satisfy these laws?

 

[StrayaMavic]

Great pano btw

 

[Nathan Hoover]

I don't remember about parks and didn't go to Nara or Mt Fuji that time. Yes, it is pretty much of a hassle. With a car or a bike it is doable though. It was a bit of a hike to get away from everything for launching here near Kyoto: http://www.flynathan.com/pano/kyoto3.html and I didn't have a car in this town so walked a long way to the coast to launch (and probably broke the rule a little bit flying back over a couple of buildings): http://www.flynathan.com/pano/uozu2.html

I probably only flew about 5 times in 2 weeks so if it had been a Phantom, definitely not worth it. But the Mavic is so small it was ok.

 

[StrayaMavic]

Awesome advice thank you!

 

[ykwarks]

almost entire osaka and kyoto are nfz (densely populated in red). just be careful as the police in japan seems nice (talking manners) but are very strict. i don’t bother to take my drone to tokyo as there are no where to fly within the city. however, you can fly around mt.fuji.

 

[dewster]

There are areas. Even Tokyo has drone parks that require you to pay to launch your drone.

 

[jag32266]

I'll be leaving for Japan soon and will take my Mavic Pro. My question is which app can I use over there to show the NFZs? I've read all the docs avail and know the general flight rules very similar to USA plus I'm more interested in Landscape photography.

Any apps recommended for NFZs? Will Hover work over there? Any other apps better than some? TIA

***Dewster- please explain more about the parks as I will be just North of Tokyo***