Haruka Ayase, front left, and other cast members, pose in front of a jumbo jet at the ANA Aircraft Maintenance Center.

Haruka Ayase has 'dream experience' in real jumbo jet

Wednesday 01st October, 05:59 AM JST

TOKYO —

Haruka Ayase, 23, Seiichi Tanabe, 39, Saburo Tokito, 50, and other cast members of the movie “Happy Flight” held a press conference this week at the ANA Aircraft Maintenance Center in Tokyo’s Ota Ward. The film, directed by Shinobu Yaguchi and due for release Nov 15, deals with an emergency aboard a chartered flight from Tokyo to Hawaii.

Ayase and her co-stars filed into the conference venue after descending from the same type of plane—a Boeing 747-400—as that featured in the film.

“It was great getting to play a pilot in a real aircraft,” said Tokito. Ayase, who plays a cabin attendant, smiled and said, “Thank you so much for giving me the kind of experience I’ve dreamed of having ever since I was little.”

ANA provided a Boeing 747 aircraft for free for 15 days of filming. Scenes were filmed on a real flight between Tokyo and Osaka. It is rare for airlines to cooperate with films about plane accidents or near disasters, but an ANA spokesperson said that director Yaguchi shows the airline personnel in a positive light.

“We had about 500 staff involved in the film,” the spokesperson said. “They included pilots, cabin attendants and ground staff. Our chairman, president and all of the staff were happy to support the project.”

Yaguchi, who researched for two years how airline staff cope with emergency cases such as unruly passengers, medical crises and hijack attempts, said, “I wanted to make this as realistic as possible so that not only audiences but also those who work in the airline industry can enjoy the film.”

› Login to comment

10 Comments

borscht at 08:38 AM JST - 1st October

Yaguchi, who researched for two years

I'm sure this flick will be great but Two Years? Why didn't he just read the manual?
soldave at 08:50 AM JST - 1st October
1. "Happy Flight"? Japan can even make disaster movies sound cute!
2. "“It was great getting to play a pilot in a real aircraft,” said Tokito. Ayase, who plays a cabin attendant, smiled and said, “Thank you so much for giving me the kind of experience I’ve dreamed of having ever since I was little.”" - are these actors for real?
realist at 09:42 AM JST - 1st October

Happy Flight - now there is real originality in a movie title. Only in Japan. Is it written in katakana as "happii furaito" or is there a Japanese title which might not sound so morose?
Sarge at 10:17 AM JST - 1st October

This photo is far too small to do Haruka Ayase any justice.
soldave at 11:13 AM JST - 1st October

BlackFlag - rarely do "lol" comments actually mean the person laughed out loud in reality. This one does: LOL!
blauereiter at 11:56 AM JST - 1st October

This photo is far too small to do Haruka Ayase any justice.

Ditto that.
upnorth71 at 01:37 PM JST - 1st October

Happy Flight- dumb name but at least it reflects conditions here- flying on commerical airlines in Japan is still reasonably pleasant. OTOH a US drama of same theme would be titled "grin an' bear it"!
northlondon at 04:51 PM JST - 1st October

“Thank you so much for giving me the kind of experience I’ve dreamed of having ever since I was little.”

Haruka Ayase, flight attendant career failure.
frontandcentre at 07:06 PM JST - 1st October

Perhaps - given the subject material - it's another great Japanese title misspelling and it was actually supposed to read "HAPPY FRIGHT"
akaguma at 11:16 PM JST - 1st October

no crash? where's the realism?