Hovercraft hovers on the verge of extinction—one more week to ride!

Submitted By: jgy 24 October 2009 1,242 views View Comments

There are some facts and occurrences in the periphery of our daily lives that we just seem to take for granted, and only when we know they are gone do we realize how special they are. I am finding this to be true of the hovercraft that brings passengers to and from Oita Airport from Oita City, which will be terminating service at the end of next week. On October 31 the only hovercraft in Japan will take it’s last scheduled ride.

I’ll be spending some time down at the pier before then; it’s like watching a black and white movie that has already begun to fade, where the beauty of something that marks a point of time that’s passing can be felt in the sea air.

Joanne G. Yoshida

Aikawarazu Life in Japan

Video of the hovercraft pulling into Oita:

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Tags: Hovercraft, Japan News, Japan Travel, Oita Hovercraft, Places in Japan, Technology, Travel

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JapanSoc said:

Hovercraft hovers on the verge of extinction—one more week to ride!…

…On October 31 the only Hovercraft in Japan will take it’s last scheduled ride….

# 24 October 2009 at 10:07 am

BlogLinkJapan » Hovercraft hovers on the verge of extinction—one more week to ride! said:

[...] BlogLinkJapan Hovercraft hovers on the verge of extinction—one more week to ride! [...]

# 24 October 2009 at 10:43 am

David Meyer said:

While a neat concept, I remember the noise and vibration from my one trip on the Oita hovercraft almost made me nauseous. That was maybe fifteen years ago, and then I thought the appointments were holdovers from the ’60s. I imagine it’s really grotty now, especially as they wind-down service. I’d ride it again if necessary, but will not mind if I never get another chance.

# 26 October 2009 at 3:04 pm

kelly said:

go to hel david

# 26 November 2009 at 11:40 am

Simon said:

any idea what has happened to said machine since the closure of service? is anyone from the hovercraft museum UK interested in preservation or has it been scrapped like so many pioneering craft in the past,

# 16 August 2010 at 1:45 am