The alarm was set for 0715 in time for the first departure which we thought would be a JAL 737- 400 at 0735. It wasn't, it was a JAL 777 a little later. The weather was still poor, and we soon realised that it wasn't going to be very easy reading off from the room, due to a combination of very dirty double glazing, the gloomy weather, and that damned All Nippon typeface !. An immediate change of plan was made, and we left the hotel to stand at the north end of the terminal level four, just by the on-ramp to the departures level. Most departures were airborne and above the terminal by this point (on runway 06) and were easy to read, although some of the longer rollers, mainly A.340's !, appeared much further to the left of the building.

We got a take-away breakfast from the MacDonalds in the terminal, and ate it at this spot; Y500 for a breakfast 'set' (meal).

At 1000 we left to catch the bus to the observation tower. This leaves from the aeroplaza, but it then picks-up at the departure level 4, so it's worth getting on here. First pick-up from level 4 is at 0955, and journey time to the tower is only 5 minutes. Access to the observation building is Y820, and it remains open until 2100. 'Tower' is a little misleading as it's two connected five-story buildings with inside and outside viewing areas. It really must be the best spotting facility in the world, with superb views of the entire airfield, looking south, and displays, a video theatre, and the like inside. There are vending machines for drinks, and a nice cafe. There are arrival and departure displays which show the next five arrivals, and next six departures, with flight numbers and types in english.

The weather gradually improved during the day, as the cold front that had dropped on us at Itami moved off to the south. The wind however stayed north/north-westerly, meaning runway 06 was used all day, which was something of a shame, as the photo opportunities of aircraft landing on runway 24, past the observation building (it is very close to the runway centreline) must be superb; possibly similar to the block of flats at Hong Kong. The sun is good for photos on the ramps in the morning, and would be best for landers on 24 during the afternoon. Unfortunately although the wind turned into quite a nasty crosswind for the landing aircraft on 06, it never backed enough for the landing direction to change.

Traffic at times is quite special here; notables were the four Korean A.300's, and two Air China 767-200's, although the hoped-for China Eastern MD.11 freighter failed to show.

We had lunch in the cafe on the terrace, Y650 for a good hot dog and fries.

There are quiet patches during the day, and we left during one of these at 1800, even though it was still light. We planned a trip out, and caught the strangest looking train I'd ever seen, the Nankai Rapit-a (like a Samurai Warrior's head-gear, but also looking like something out of 'Flash Gordon' !) for Namba station, near to Osaka Stadium, the location of the Osaka Hard Rock Cafe. The direct, seat-assigned train was Y1400, and took 30 minutes. We had heard that the Japanese HRC's were very expensive but it wasn't too bad; Y1,780 for the superb 'Pig' sandwich, Y400 for a beer, and Y2,000 for a T-shirt.

We caught the train back to the airport, checked out the cargo ramps (without binoculars !) from the south end of level 4, in case the China Eastern had turned up, but it hadn't, and had another early-ish night.

Kansai will probably be my abiding memory of the whole week in Japan. I spent most of the day admiring the scenery of the mainland all around the bay - it really is very pretty.

I got 38 new at Kansai on our first full day there. The EVA MD.11 wore joint EVA/ANK titles, publicising a new joint Taipei service which presumably only started at the beginning of the week.