Got a gig flying for Northwest Orient to celebrate their role in establishing the northern United States to the Orient route through Alaska.
We left Naha and flew alongside the Ryukyu Islands to the historic international port city of Nagasaki. During the 16th century, the local daimyo allocated the port to foreigners--as an inducement to trade. After westerners were expelled, until the Meiji restoration, it served as the only contact with China. And during the nineteenth century it became a center for western influence and then industrial modernization. (Enroute, there was great conversation including some discussion of whether the city was the home of saki-fed naugas and thus the source of naugahyde.)
The international airport (RJFU) is located on Minoshima Island in Omura Bay 11 miles north of the main city. An enjoyable flight with a chance to see many striking liveries adorning the classic steamjets: vW Air Ceylon DC-8, MaddogK United 727, SrG BOAC VC-10, Willy Icelandair 727, MM Northwest 727, Moses United DC-8, and Sky Lufthansa 727. (Unfortunately, we lost Taco's BOAC VC-10 to netstorms.)