On March 27th, a Nebuta depicting the Boeing 747-400D, known as the ‘Marine Jumbo’ that was operated in the 1990s (aircraft registration number: JA8963), made its debut at the ‘ANA Blue Base’ (ABB), a comprehensive training facility of All Nippon Airways (ANA) located near Haneda Airport.
The Nebuta, approximately 2.5 meters in length and 2 meters in width, faithfully reproduces the colorful design of the Marine Jumbo’s fuselage and the raised construction of the 747’s distinctive upper deck. It also features illuminated navigation lights at the tips of the wings and anti-collision lights on the top and bottom of the fuselage.
The Marine Jumbo was a pioneering special livery aircraft among domestic airlines, operated from 1993 to 1995 to commemorate ANA’s cumulative passenger count reaching 500 million. Its design, chosen from a public submission, was created by a grade school girl at the time, representing the entire aircraft as a giant blue whale and decorated with various marine creatures such as fish and jellyfish.
▲The process of making the Marine Jumbo Nebuta (October 25, 2023)
The students of Rokugo Technical High School in Ota Ward, Tokyo, crafted the Nebuta. The school organizes the ‘Rokugo Nebuta Festival’ every November as part of their comprehensive learning program. For the 2023 festival, inspired by an aviation enthusiast who served as the executive committee chairman in 2022, they proposed a collaboration with ANA. With the airline’s approval, they created a Nebuta based on the Airbus A380 ‘FLYING HONU’ (aircraft registration number: JA383A). The HONU Nebuta is currently on display at the ANA Narita Sky Center at Narita Airport.
Following the HONU Nebuta, the Marine Jumbo Nebuta was the second collaborative project, involving ANA cabin crew in its production, particularly during the paper pasting process. After being paraded through a local shopping street during the festival on November 18, 2023, and displayed at the school’s entrance, it was transferred to ANA and brought to ABB on March 27th.
Ryoya Ogawa and Yuta Ohara, students who helped bring in the Nebuta, expressed their deep emotional attachment to the Nebuta, finding their involvement in its exhibition very moving. Eiomi Ishikawa, a teacher who led the project, commented, “The students spent eight months creating this. It’s delightful to have more opportunities for people to see it and appreciate the students’ efforts.”
The Nebuta is now displayed at the tour entrance of ABB, where it can be seen during tours and other visits.
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This article was generated using automatic translation by GPT-4 API. The translation may not be accurate.
