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The Volcano Crater Erupts in the 007 Movie

| Aviation Around Us

This month, Mount Kirishima (KIRISHIMAYAMA) located in Kagoshima, South Kyushu, Japan, has seen the eruption of the Shinmoedake volcano. Shinmoedake

Consequently, I checked the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center website. You can see that new information has been issued every few hours since March 1st.

When mentioning Shinmoedake volcano, people generally have no concept of it, but when referring to the famous 007 series movie “You Only Live Twice” from 1967, a vast number of people should know about it.

Borrowing a description from Wikipedia

"You Only Live Twice" is the 5th James Bond film filmed in 1967. It is the first James Bond film to feature a Chinese-Bond girl (Tsai Chin). The film incorporates numerous Asian elements, with the opening theme featuring Chinese and Japanese-style paper umbrellas.

Plot Summary: An American satellite, “Jupiter 16,” is attacked by an unidentified flying object during a spacewalk and goes missing. At the US-USSR summit, the US accuses the Soviets of attacking the American satellite and states that they will launch a space shuttle again in twenty days, demanding that the Soviets do not interfere, or else face war, while the Soviets vehemently deny it. The UK states that the Hawaii radar station detected weak signals from the unidentified flying object coming from Japan, and that an intelligence officer is already investigating in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, British Secret Service agent James Bond is spending the night with a Chinese beauty, but little does he know it is a honey trap; Bond is ambushed and shot by gunmen. Shortly after, the UK holds a sea burial for Bond, and Bond’s coffin is cast into the water, but unexpectedly, Bond is resurrected. It turns out this was a plot to conceal his identity. His superior M assigns Bond to investigate the disappearance of “Jupiter 16” to find out the cause and avoid the outbreak of a world war, but the layers of conspiracy behind it point to Japan…

Filming Locations: Hong Kong Japan Ginza 4-chome, Eidan Subway (now Tokyo Metro) Marunouchi Line, New Otani Hotel, Kuramae Kokugikan, Tokyo Tower, Komazawa-dori, Himeji Castle, Botsu, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu Shinmoedake

Yes, the base entrance of a Japanese chemical company in the film was part of the conspiracy, and their base entrance is located inside a volcano. It was filmed at Shinmoedake, which is currently erupting.

Returning to the topic of volcanic ash, let’s look at the information released at 2018/03/12 12:00Z:

FVFE01 RJTD 121200 VA ADVISORY DTG: 20180312/1200Z VAAC: TOKYO VOLCANO: KIRISHIMAYAMA 282090 PSN: N3156 E13052 AREA: JAPAN SUMMIT ELEV: 1700M ADVISORY NR: 2018/78 INFO SOURCE: HIMAWARI-8 AVIATION COLOUR CODE: NIL ERUPTION DETAILS: VA CONTINUOUSLY OBS ON SATELLITE IMAGERY OBS VA DTG: 12/1120Z OBS VA CLD: SFC/FL160 N3242 E13306 - N3237 E13324 - N3158 E13305 - N3156 E13239 MOV E 20KT SFC/FL140 N3156 E13058 - N3215 E13139 - N3200 E13143 - N3145 E13058 MOV E 20KT FCST VA CLD +6 HR: 12/1720Z SFC/FL170 N3213 E13608 - N3209 E13330 - N3250 E13308 - N3319 E13339 - N3300 E13532 SFC/FL140 N3240 E13347 - N3221 E13401 - N3156 E13239 - N3216 E13138 - N3239 E13136 - N3257 E13209 FCST VA CLD +12 HR: 12/2320Z SFC/FL130 N3237 E13617 - N3153 E13504 - N3223 E13309 - N3330 E13212 - N3354 E13254 FCST VA CLD +18 HR: NO VA EXP RMK: SOME PART OF VA(FL160)(FL140) OBSCURED BY MET CLOUD. NXT ADVISORY: 20180312/1800Z=

Dispersion Forecast Chart:

Observation Chart:

Next, I checked the NOTAMs, again looking at AIS JAPAN. I searched for “VAVOLCANIC ACTIVITY INFO” within RJJJ and found the following information:

3364⁄18 FROM 18/03/12 21:14 TO 18/03/13 03:10 E)VOLCANIC ACTIVITY INFO KIRISHIMAYAMA PSN/315603N1305142E(REF AIP ENR5.3-23) VA CLD OBS AT 2020Z WI N3202 E13135 - N3211 E13137 - N3212 E13206 - N3202 E13204 - N3202 E13135 SFC/FL130 F)SFC G)FL130

Finally, here are a few more photos of Shinmoedake.