Recently, I was asked online about photography spots at Haneda Airport. It seems like a good idea to polish up the “Haneda Airport Spotting@” series, so I’ll write about Ukishima-cho Park this time.

Ukishima-cho Park is located within Kawasaki City, just off the seaside on the outer side of Runway A and Runway D. It is not only a very famous aircraft spotting location, but also a popular spot for fishing.

For public transportation to Ukishima-cho Park, take the “Kawasaki 03” bus from Bus Stop 16 at Kawasaki Station and get off at “Ukishima-cho Park Entrance” (浮島町公園入り口). The journey takes a little over 30 minutes. Below is the timetable; as you can see, there are plenty of buses.

At the entrance to the park, you can see several wind turbines. These windmills serve as excellent landmarks, so keep an eye out for them from the aircraft in the future as well.

Below, I will introduce several typical compositions.

First, let’s look at aircraft landing on 34L. You can often capture this kind of traditional side-profile shot. On sunny days with abundant light, you can get very satisfying results against a blue sky background. This is a very standard aircraft spotting style photo.

JA330D Skymark A330-300

JA818A ANA 787-8 Dreamliner

JA500A JAPAN COAST GUARD G-V Gulfstream V

VN-A336 Vietnam Airlines A321-200

If there are some clouds, it’s less monotonous than the shots above and adds a bit of depth.

9V-SQM Singapore Airlines 777-200

N930HB 737-700

It’s not impossible to photograph aircraft landing in parallel on 34R, but the distance is a bit far. If visibility is good and you have a lens with a focal length of 600mm or above, there should be some excellent shooting opportunities.

JA754A ANA 777-300 Pokemon Jet

If the timing is right and you catch simultaneous final approaches to 34L and 34R, you can also get photos like the one below: Two ANA Boeing 787s landing in parallel; the upper one is using 34L, the lower one 34R, and in between, you can see an aircraft that just took off from Runway 05.

Next, let’s look at photographing aircraft using Runway 05. We know that Haneda’s Runway 05 is located in Tokyo Bay, i.e., on the sea. A runway combining a pier structure with land reclamation is extremely rare among world airports. It is said that the construction utilized the world’s most advanced seismic technology. The runway’s characteristic is the use of massive steel columns (said to total 470,000 tons!) driven into the sea, relying solely on these metal pillars to support the pier and the runway. This way, the mouth of the nearby Tama River is not blocked, allowing fish and other organisms to move freely, which protects the natural environment. When an aircraft taxis from the terminal to the start of Runway 05, passing over this pier is a great photography opportunity.

In terms of angles, there are the most opportunities for side-profile shots, but conditions like turning towards a Heading of 05 can offer other shooting angles. In the photos below, please observe the metal pillars supporting the Runway and pier.

B-6083 China Eastern Airlines A330-300

JA817A ANA 787-8 Dreamliner

B-6097 Shanghai Airlines A330-300

Just watching aircraft might get monotonous after a while. Fortunately, there are various boats on the sea below, and aircraft landing above. As long as the timing is good, you can capture them together.

JA823J JAL 787-8 Dreamliner with the cruise ship Ocean Bleu

JA771J JAL 777-200, JA604A ANA 767-300, RP-C9909 Philippine Airlines A321-200, and Air Do Boeing 737-700

B-6097 Shanghai Airlines A330-300 & JA01HD Air Do 767-300

B-6097 Shanghai Airlines A330-300 and fishing boats in Tokyo Bay

JA330A SKYMARK A330-300 and a pleasure boat in Tokyo Bay

Let’s change the angle again. This time, using Haneda Airport Terminal 1 and the Tower as a background, photographing aircraft about to land over Runway 34L from the left-rear side. The effect is quite nice.

9V-SQM Singapore Airlines 777-200

JA705A ANA 777-200. If you zoom in on the photo, you can even see the people in the observation deck of the terminal clearly.

Walking further south along the seaside, you can also discover this composition: photographing aircraft taxiing on the ground with the skyscrapers of downtown Tokyo as the background. The aircraft at this moment are usually coming from the International Terminal. For instance, I caught the Lufthansa 747-8 which had just launched its route. Of course, the clear winter air is also an important reason.

D-ABYF Lufthansa 747-8. In the background are Roppongi Hills (left) and Tokyo Midtown (right) in Roppongi, which I know very well. This shot features the famous Tokyo Tower in the background. 9V-SQM Singapore Airlines 777-200, JA823J JAL 787-8 Dreamliner. The background here is Shinjuku, and the tower-shaped building is the headquarters of NTT Docomo, Japan’s largest mobile operator.

Finally, I’ll introduce one more composition that requires a super-telephoto lens with a focal length of 800mm or more. It involves photographing aircraft that have just taken off from Runway 34R, using the Tower as a reference point. For example, the Lufthansa 747-8 above. The result isn’t bad, is it?

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