Business took me through Kitakyushu Airport. It sits on an artificial island spanning Kukuminami-ku Airport Kita-machi in Kitakyushu and Kanda-machi Airport Minami-machi in Kyoto-gun, Fukuoka. The terminal and airport offices are on the Kitakyushu side. It is Kyushu’s first twenty-four-hour airport. In 2006 the cramped old Kitakyushu Airport moved onto the island. Home carrier StarFlyer flies a 5:30 a.m. departure arriving Haneda at 7:00 — among Japan’s domestic scheduled passenger flights the earliest start — and the latest last flight: Haneda 22:55, Kitakyushu 24:35. The 5:30 Tokyo flight still runs, so salarymen on Tokyo trips can go and return the same day and still make a mixer past 8 p.m. and get home that night.
Meet-and-greet at Kitakyushu Airport is guided by a Maetel robot — the heroine who travels with Hoshino Tetsuro in Galaxy Express 999. Because creator Matsumoto Leiji is from Kitakyushu, Maetel at the entrance general desk answers visitors’ questions. Long lashes, slitted eyes, blond hair to the waist; she wears an all-black long-sleeve dress, caped coat, and astrakhan hat. Kitakyushu is also a robot city; this Maetel uses its own speech recognition — ask into the microphone and she guides with gestures. You can also ask on a touch panel about airport facilities, Kitakyushu sights, and transport times. The voice is Ikeda Masako, the anime Maetel, so it is just like the show. Self-introduction: about 170 cm; weight a secret.
Kitakyushu Airport also has a hangar for the Mainichi’s western head-office helicopter; when news breaks, the Mainichi helicopter “Ooruri” takes off with a photographer.