<p>Years after women Japanese train spotters were given the nickname “Tetsuko,” which loosely translates as rail girl, officials of Narita airport and nearby Narita city recently coined the word “Sorami” — air girl — to describe members of Japan’s growing band of women plane spotters.<br /><br />Just as a Tetsuko would crisscross the nation to photograph different trains, so a Sorami such as Ayumi Fukuda, a 34-year-old public servant from Takaishi, Osaka Prefecture, travels from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south to capture images of airplanes.<br /><br />In May she was one of 27 participants in an event organised for Sorami in Narita, Chiba Prefecture.<br />“I don’t understand why airplanes can fly, and that’s why I’m attracted to them,” said Fukuda, a plane spotter of five years. The event was organised by “Narita Kuentai,” a group consisting of employees of the Narita municipal government and of Narita airport that works for the development of the local community.</p>.<p><br />After gathering at a hotel in the city, the participants, mostly in their 20s and 30s, were given a tour of a park close to the airport and taken to a Japan Airlines hangar to photograph planes.<br />“It’s huge!” “Beautiful!” the assembled Sorami exclaimed as they entered the hangar and set eyes on JAL’s Boeing 787, the state-of-the-art passenger jet nicknamed Dreamliner. Some lay on the ground to photograph the plane from a certain angle, while others posed in front of the jet for photos with mechanics, who were acting as tour guides.<br /><br />According to photographer Charlie Furusho, there tends to be a difference between photos taken by men and women airplane fans.<br /><br />“Men just tend to photograph the aircraft, so as to make a collection of them, while many women include flowers and other seasonal items in the picture,” said the 39-year-old photographer. He said women seem to enjoy the color scheme and other aspects of how a plane looks.<br /><br />Fukuda said that among her fellow plane spotters, men tend to be more interested in the technical aspects of aircraft, such as engines. “But I like to take pictures of airplanes against a natural backdrop.” She uploads her photos to the Internet.<br /><br /></p>
<p>Years after women Japanese train spotters were given the nickname “Tetsuko,” which loosely translates as rail girl, officials of Narita airport and nearby Narita city recently coined the word “Sorami” — air girl — to describe members of Japan’s growing band of women plane spotters.<br /><br />Just as a Tetsuko would crisscross the nation to photograph different trains, so a Sorami such as Ayumi Fukuda, a 34-year-old public servant from Takaishi, Osaka Prefecture, travels from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south to capture images of airplanes.<br /><br />In May she was one of 27 participants in an event organised for Sorami in Narita, Chiba Prefecture.<br />“I don’t understand why airplanes can fly, and that’s why I’m attracted to them,” said Fukuda, a plane spotter of five years. The event was organised by “Narita Kuentai,” a group consisting of employees of the Narita municipal government and of Narita airport that works for the development of the local community.</p>.<p><br />After gathering at a hotel in the city, the participants, mostly in their 20s and 30s, were given a tour of a park close to the airport and taken to a Japan Airlines hangar to photograph planes.<br />“It’s huge!” “Beautiful!” the assembled Sorami exclaimed as they entered the hangar and set eyes on JAL’s Boeing 787, the state-of-the-art passenger jet nicknamed Dreamliner. Some lay on the ground to photograph the plane from a certain angle, while others posed in front of the jet for photos with mechanics, who were acting as tour guides.<br /><br />According to photographer Charlie Furusho, there tends to be a difference between photos taken by men and women airplane fans.<br /><br />“Men just tend to photograph the aircraft, so as to make a collection of them, while many women include flowers and other seasonal items in the picture,” said the 39-year-old photographer. He said women seem to enjoy the color scheme and other aspects of how a plane looks.<br /><br />Fukuda said that among her fellow plane spotters, men tend to be more interested in the technical aspects of aircraft, such as engines. “But I like to take pictures of airplanes against a natural backdrop.” She uploads her photos to the Internet.<br /><br /></p>