VICTORY TO UKRAINE!
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Not all programs in YSFLIGHT.COM are open source. But, you can download some of the source code from the following URL.
https://github.com/captainys/public
VICTORY TO UKRAINE!
I was again too lazy to update ysflight.com often in 2025. I know I am involved in too many things. Flying an airplane, bowling, air shows, practicing piano (at least trying), programming for fun. On top of these, I am asked to be a programming mentor for a nearby high school robotics club. I have been teaching in Pittsburgh Japanese School on Sundays. And, I ended up adding a new hobby of running. Pull-up training is also one of my hobbies. Wild-bird photography is on hold now. In fact, I code for fun and for work. To me, the boundary between my profession and hobby is obscure. Some of my friends tell once you make your hobby your profession, you no longer enjoy it. That didn't happen to me. I am lucky.
So, since I am involved in too many things, I end up postponing updating ysflight.com. It's inevitable. But, you can follow the development of FM TOWNS Emulator Tsugaru and FM77AV Emulator Mutsu on my github account. I also monitor Discord.
I was in Japan in late December to early January. I flew All Nippon Airways from Chicago to Tokyo Haneda. The airplane for this flight was Boeing 777. And, the captain enabled the forward-looking and downward-looking camera all the way from gate to gate. It was beautiful to see lights of Tokyo Haneda on landing. But, the flight was delayed. I was supposed to be there at 9pm, but it was almost 11pm.
When you visit Japan, you have an option to digitally submit a custom form. When they started, it was not so efficient. I had to scan a QR code on the app near the baggage claim. There was virtually no benefit for passport control. But, this time I scanned my QR code before the passport control, and the rest was smooth. The system was improved quite a bit. I barely made the last train of Tokyo Monorail. If it were not for the digital custom declaration, I could have missed it and might have been forced to use a taxi.
I only had four days in Tokyo this time. I had to be efficient. I tried to optimize the schedule by making a list of things to do and places to visit and food to eat, with fatigue taken into account. I used to make a mistake in schedule by not taking fatigue into account. I should take a rest from time to time. But, the restaurants seemed to be open later than before. I wanted to take advantage of my jet lag to make full use of early morning, but only limited food choices were available. It made my to-eat list somewhat difficult to complete.
Also what made this trip difficult was, I had three days in Tokyo, then went to my home town, then back to Tokyo, one day in Tokyo, and flew back to Pittsburgh. In case I could not get what I was planning to buy, I had to finish my shopping, mostly books, before going to my home town. I had to carry all of them to my home town of Hirosaki, then carry them back to Tokyo before flying back to Pittsburgh. In addition, I had to endeavor the holiday travel with all the weight. Just like Thanksgiving and Christmas in the U.S., so many travelers travel from Tokyo to their home towns end of December, then come back to Tokyo early January. I had no choice. I go to the gym for this.
Day 1. December 26. I was staying in a hotel near Haneda airport for the first two nights. I woke up early due to jet lag. Then I came to Terminal 3 to eat MOS Burger there. I think MOS Burger tastes better than any hamburger chains in the U.S. I am confident I never get tired of eating MOS Burger every day. Then, bought some All Nippon Airways merchandise at the airline store. Then, around 10:45am, I went to the photo spot to take a picture of Lufthansa Boeing 747-8. Lufthansa is, I believe, the last airline using Boeing 747 for passenger services. And, they fly one round trip per day. If you want to take a picture of passenger-model Boeing 747, there are limited locations where you can do. Tokyo Haneda is one of them. Flight Radar 24 is a very convenient tool to expect when the airplane lands. I wish it existed in 2003, when I was at London Heathrow, waiting for Concordes.
Then, headed for Akihabara. I wanted to make two pairs of glasses with progressive lenses. Even with vision insurance, my eye doctor charged me $500 to make one pair of glasses. It is 80,000JPY at today's rate. In Japan, you can make one for 20,000JPY. Four times cheaper. In fact, if you have the same problem, you can recover some cost for travel by making a pair in Japan. There are two affordable glass shop, Zoff and JIN. I use Zoff. I went to the same Zoff branch that I used last time. But, I was told, because of the new year's holiday, it would be impossible to get my glasses made before I left. They could deliver to domestic addressed, but not international. Damn it. I gave up and left. Once. But, later I realized, I could send it to tenso.com address, then have them shipped to the U.S. Tenso.com is a service that let you shop online in Japan, and then transfer items to international locations. Once you sign up, you get a special address that you can ship your item to. Then, tenso.com will tell you when the item arrives, and you can pay them to ship them to your international address. So, I decided to try again the next day.
Then I went to Maruzen bookstore next to Tokyo station. I ended up with buying 19,000JPY worth of books. Here in the U.S., I am missing science books. In Japan, there is a series called Blue Backs. I always find interesting books about physics, technology, mathematics in the series.
In the evening, I met with a friend from my college and ate ox-tongue steak. If you haven't tried ox-tongue steak, you definitely should. It's chewy and tasty.
Day 2. December 27. I checked out the hotel near the airport, dropped off majority of my luggage to my next hotel in Akihabara. I typically stay in this Keikyu EX Akihabara in Tokyo. Then made a pilgrimage to Akihabara Beep. I bought "TOA Plan Arcade Collection Vol.8". Then visited Zoff again. I ordered two pairs of glasses shipped to my tenso.com address. My presbyopia seems to have stopped progressing. The glasses I made 2 years ago still works. I think it is reasonably safe to assume it has stopped. So, I wanted one for spare, and one for running. I wanted to see pace alert from my Garmin Forrunner 255 clearer.
Then had lunch at Ginza Lion near Akihabara station. I am desperately missing high-quality sausage in the U.S. I need to eat this at least once every time I visit Japan.
Then headed for Book Off to see some used books/Bluerays, but I did not find anything I was looking for this time. At least I tried.
About 3pm, I came back to hotel. Picked up my bags and checked in. I took a rest for an hour or so. I was tired after walking for several hours. I got sleepy. But, I was in Tokyo. Is there an option not to visit Game Center Mikado to play SEGA Afterburner II? No! I took a nap for two hour or so, and headed to Takadanobaba around 7pm. I was shocked when I walked out of the Takadanobaba station. The retro-game section of Mikado was now a ramen shop. Was Afterburner II gone forever? I walked to the main building of Mikado, and asked the employee there. In fact, it was at the entrance of the main building. Yes, it was still there, up and running, very well maintained. The CRT is getting blur, but still the control stick and throttle lever both worked perfectly. In the first attempt, it took two coins to fly all the way, but in the second run, I finished with one coin. I still was able to do it!
With a feeling of achievement, I came back to Akihabara station. I picked up some M-Disc media at Yodobashi Akiba. No matter how you believe optical media are obsolete, it has a very strong advantage, you can write only once. No ransomware can overwrite my M-Disc. I take a back up of my important files to M-Disc twice a year. I did the same before leaving Pittsburgh. I spent some stock of M-Discs, so I needed to buy as many as I used.
I was supposed to cross one more item in my to-eat list tonight, but the lunch was heavy for my stomach one day after crossing the Pacific ocean. I could eat some salad and nutrition drink, and went to bed.
Day 3. December 28. If I come to Tokyo, I need to run around the Imperial Palace. I was supposed to go to my hometown the next day. Then, I had no chance of exercise for six days. It was a must. I took advantage of my jet lag. I woke up like 4am, and then took a train to Tokyo station. I changed clothes at Marunouchi Bike and Run, then ran one lap of 5K course around the Imperial Palace. My target time was 25 minutes and 45 seconds.
According to my Garmin Forrunner 255, I was running 25 minutes and 54 seconds. But, my GoPro video showed that it took betwee 24 minutes 44 and 46 seconds to complete the lap. Exactly at my target time. My goal for this year was to be able to run 5K within 26 minutes. I did it in the last four 5K races, and did it again around the Imperial palace. It was a great last run of 2025.
I had lunch with a professor from my college. I think he was already 90 years old or so, but he was still sharp. I want to get old like him. Then had dinner with my cousins, and finished all of schedules in Tokyo.
Day 4. December 29. I wanted to have a breakfast at Tokyo station, but it was impossible to get around in Tokyo station in peak holiday travel day with three bags. Lockers must be very competitive. But, I remembered there was a locker reservation service. I reserved a locker. Put all of my bags, and looked for a good breakfast. One thing I learned was Google Gemini was useless in finding a place to eat. It cannot distinguish current and outdated information. Many of the restaurants that Gemini thought open at 8:30am did not actually open til 10am or 11am. I finally found a nice cafe by myself. Curry and rice was very good.
Before picking up my bags, I bought a bento box from Yabaton. Their Misokatsu (miso pork cutlet) is delicious. If you haven't tried, you should. Even better if you could go to Nagoya and eat in one of the branches, but in Tokyo at least you can buy a bento box. I got on the Shinkansen train, waited until the train started, then ate the bento box. It is always fun to eat lunch at 200mph. Luckly, the guy next to me got off at Sendai, and nobody came to the seat. It was a comfortable journey, despite the holiday travel rush.
It's been a year since I visited my home town last time. My home town, Hirosaki was pretty much snow covered.
There were two large bookstores in Hirosaki, both of which have closed for good. The bowling alley I used play is gone. The Konan-Railway Owani line that I used to go skiing or go to the bowling alley is scheduled to go out of service in 2028. I was thinking, losing a train service happens only in very rural area. But, it's going to happen in my home town. So, there won't be too many chances to see the trains of Owani line. I went to a nearby station to take some pictures.
Then I was pretty much watching TV and birds coming to the feeder outside of my house.
January 4. I stayed at a hot-spa hotel in Sendai with my mother. Then, I parted at the station heading for Tokyo. I was running two to three times a week before leaving Pittsburgh. Then for six days, I was eating good food and no exercise. I felt cholesterol swirling in my body, and I could not help running. In Tokyo, I dumped my bags at my hotel, and headed for the Imperial palace. This time I pushed harder on uphill. I hoped to run a little bit faster. But, the time was again exactly 25 minutes and 45 seconds. It's ok. My goal for this year is to run within 25 minutes and 30 seconds. I'll increase my training when back in Pittsburgh.
Then bought a tempura bento at Shinagawa station. Tokyo station has a large variety of bento boxes, but Shinagawa station is also a good place to find a good bento box. Came back to hotel. Put some clothes in the laundry, then made one more pilgrimage to Beep, then bought a USB-C power adapter at Yodobashi Akiba, then came back to hotel. I wrote it before, but I do not trust cheap USB power supply, especially if it is high-capacity. I rather pay extra cash than starting a fire.
Janaury 5. This time, I never fully recovered from the jet lag. I ended up waking up at around 5am. Today I was going to meet up with my wife, and stay a night at a hotel near the airport. I again took advantage of my jet lag, check out the hotel, and carried all my bags to the hotel near the Haneda airport before the morning rush hour.
Last time, I found two tape-based retro games for Fujitsu FM-7 at Hard-Off Fujisawa. I thought about getting them, but I did not buy them after all. But, if those two games were still there, I would get them. So, I headed for Fujisawa station. It was still early. I visited Shonandai, where I was living while I was going to Keio university. I knew the area was developed and changed a lot since I left. But, the apartment I was living was still there. The Hikiji-river was still the same. I used to ride a bicycle with 300mm telephoto to the approach end of Atsugi air base to take pictures of F-14s, F-18s, A-6s, S-3s, etc then.
Then I came back to Fujisawa Hard Off. The two games were still there! These two games were waiting for me for a year. I got them. I was successfully dumped and run both of them in my emulator.
Then went to Yokohama Book Off, Yurindo book store, and Kinokuniya book store, then came back to the hotel, checked in. I took a rest for an hour or so. Then I came to Tokyo Haneda Airport Terminal 1 to meet up with my wife. I was able to see a very nice sunset from the observation deck. But the airplane that my wife was flying into landed the other side of the airport, and could not take a picture of that.
We had Sushi for the last supper before leaving Japan. By the way, two pairs of glasses from Zoff arrived Pittsburgh in perfect condition.
Comments are welcome.
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