At Matsushima nothing much was happening the first hour or two, finally at 11:00 the flying started with á bunch of F-2s. During the lunch break we went off to take a picture of the preserved T-2 in the village. While doing so a Japanese driver parked his little car straight into the guarding rail, with all kind of bits falling off his car and us standing by amazed at what he would have been thinking that made him get lost in a lazy turn.

In the afternoon flying was much better with the F-2 going on and off. At one point they even used the cross runway and so they came straight over the spotters place. This afternoon we had our second visit from the men in black in the white Toyota, this time we did have an interview but they did not speak any English so that was interesting conversation. To give a clue: it was not apparent to us who had the man claiming to speak English. So after showing our passports and having our pictures taken, they went off to report back.

Since the weather was improving all the time we stayed too long at Matsushima and by the time we arrived at Kasuminome they where putting the last choppers away in the hangars and we were left almost empty handed.

Tomorrow would be the day of the general practice at Hyakuri of the 2005 Armed Forces Air Review, so we had planned to spend the night in Mito near Hyakuri. While underway we had dinner in a rest area on the highway; it is interesting ordering from a menu you don’t understand and most of the pictures are not of any help. Unlike European roadside restaurants, most of the meals however provide good value for money, taste well and besides one or two unlucky choices, having a roadside dinner is generally good to go. In Mito we found a nice priced hotel in the centre of town next to the more interesting part of Mito..