ASDF Blue Impulse to Fly over Osaka Spots for Expo Opening

   Tokyo, April 3 (Jiji Press)--The Air Self-Defense Force said Thursday that its Blue Impulse aerobatics team will fly over tourist spots in Osaka Prefecture on April 13 to celebrate the day's opening of the 2025 World Exposition.
   The aerobatic team will make a performance flight over the Expo venue, the artificial island of Yumeshima in the western Japan prefecture's namesake capital, after flying over the prefecture for about 20 minutes.
   According to the ASDF, the aerobatics team is set to depart Kansai International Airport around 11:40 a.m. The team will head north along Osaka Bay and fly in formation over Tsutenkaku Tower, Osaka Castle, the Tower of the Sun monument, which was the symbol of the 1970 Osaka Expo, and amusement park Hirakata Park.
   The team is scheduled to be in the skies above Yumeshima around noon and make a 12-minute performance flight based on the Expo theme, "Designing Future Society for Our Lives."
   Given that the Kansai region including Osaka has no ASDF base with a runway, the ASDF considered having the Blue Impulse team depart from a base in the prefecture of Gifu or Aichi in the neighboring Chubu region.

(2025/04/03-21:39)