Friendly Bird

Friendly Bird   フレンドリーバード

Everyone's Dream - Flip into the sky   みんなの夢 大空にはばたけ

JA8472

A300B2K-3C

JAS

2001-03

This special scheme was unveiled on October 8, 2001 to celebrate the 30 years of service of the airline, as well as the 30th anniversary of the normalization of relations between Japan and China. A bird painting competition for children was held in Japan and in China. The earth logo on the tail and the first bird featured aft of the L1 door were designed by cartoonist Leiji Matsumoto, who was part of the jury of the contest. For the rest, both sides of the plane displayed different bird drawings, with the winning entries from Chinese students featured on the port side and drawings of Japanese children on the starboard side. Remains of the livery stayed after the aircraft was sold to Fly Air of Turkey as TC-FLE.

The company was originally formed as Toa Domestic Airlines (TDA) in a merger between Toa Airways and Japan Domestic Airlines in 1971. It had adopted the JAS name in 1988.

Images  ©  EXIA 01 (MMB) & F-4さん (HND)
Tags   Children Drawings, Design Competition

Pocari Sweat

Pocari Sweat   ポカリスエット

Refreshment Water

JA8562

A300B4-622R

JAS

1997-98

Pocari Sweat is a popular Japanese soft drink and sports drink. It is produced by Otsuka Pharmaceutial Company. When unveiled on September 1st, 1997, it was the very first brand logojet in Japan.

Image  ©  Jacques Guillem Collection (HND)
Tags   Drinks

Kurosawa Rainbow #7

Kurosawa Rainbow   黒澤レインボー

#7

Unit 7   7号機

JA8070	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1997-04
JA004D	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1997-05

In 1995 Japanese Domestic carrier JAS teamed up with Akira Kurosawa, one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. The director of Seven Samourai was also a designer and he created 7 different designs for JAS with the original themes being “Japanese morning” and “7 rainbow colors over the skies of Japan”. The schemes were strictly symetrical and adorned all 16 brand new MD90 of the airline. The first seven aircraft became the "Seven Samourai" while from the 8th delivery, aircraft would again wear the first design and so on, becoming some kind of Shadow Warriors (the name of another Kurosawa movie).

Image  ©  Gambardier (NKM)
Tags   Original Artwork

Kurosawa Rainbow #6

Kurosawa Rainbow   黒澤レインボー

#6

Unit 6   6号機

JA8069	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1996-04
JA003D	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1997-05

In 1995 Japanese Domestic carrier JAS teamed up with Akira Kurosawa, one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. The director of Seven Samourai was also a designer and he created 7 different designs for JAS with the original themes being “Japanese morning” and “7 rainbow colors over the skies of Japan”. The schemes were strictly symetrical and adorned all 16 brand new MD90 of the airline. The first seven aircraft became the "Seven Samourai" while from the 8th delivery, aircraft would again wear the first design and so on, becoming some kind of Shadow Warriors (the name of another Kurosawa movie).

Image  ©  Gambardier (ITM)
Tags   Original Artwork

The 7 Rainbow 777

Rainbow 777   レインボー777

Rainbow Seven   レインボーセブン - by Masatomo Watanabe

all 7 a/c

B777-200

JAS » JAL Domestic

1996-05

For its 25th anniversary in 1996, JAS held a public competition with the aim to find a unique livery for its brand new 777s -it is to be noted as well that Boeing was not really happy with the idea of painting its latest plane in the standard JAS livery-, which was directly derived from Airbus' house livery. More than 10,000 schemes were submitted (including some online, a first at the time), and 13-year old Masatomo Watanabe from Chitose (near Sapporo Airport) was chosen as the winner by a jury including film director Akira Kurosawa. The rainbow started on the nose and ended on the tail, resulting in an asymetrical design.

JA8977 (the first 777) was transferred to the Japan register in December 1996 and landed at Haneda on January 28, 1997.

JAS and JAL announced their merger in late 2001 and small JAL stickers were added on all JAS planes in 2002, when the new JAL Arc of the Sun livery was unveiled. JAS became JAL Domestic on April 1st, 2004 and a few of these Rainbow liveries outlived JAS, yet mostly in faded condition.

Images  ©  Gambardier (FUK)
Tags   Design Competition

Kurosawa Rainbow #5

Kurosawa Rainbow   黒澤レインボー

#5

Unit 5   5号機

JA8066	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1996-05
JA002D	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1997-04

In 1995 Japanese Domestic carrier JAS teamed up with Akira Kurosawa, one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. The director of Seven Samourai was also a designer and he created 7 different designs for JAS with the original themes being “Japanese morning” and “7 rainbow colors over the skies of Japan”. The schemes were strictly symetrical and adorned all 16 brand new MD90 of the airline. The first seven aircraft became the "Seven Samourai" while from the 8th delivery, aircraft would again wear the first design and so on, becoming some kind of Shadow Warriors (the name of another Kurosawa movie).

Image  ©  Gambardier (NKM)
Tags   Original Artwork

Kurosawa Rainbow #4

Kurosawa Rainbow   黒澤レインボー

#4

Unit 4   4号機

JA8062	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1996-06
JA001D	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1997-05

In 1995 Japanese Domestic carrier JAS teamed up with Akira Kurosawa, one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. The director of Seven Samourai was also a designer and he created 7 different designs for JAS with the original themes being “Japanese morning” and “7 rainbow colors over the skies of Japan”. The schemes were strictly symetrical and adorned all 16 brand new MD90 of the airline. The first seven aircraft became the "Seven Samourai" while from the 8th delivery, aircraft would again wear the first design and so on, becoming some kind of Shadow Warriors (the name of another Kurosawa movie).

Although already on the Japanese register by October 1995, problems with the electrical system meant JA8062 was stored in the Arizona desert before paint and did not arrive in Japan before May 1996.

Image  ©  Gambardier (ITM)
Tags   Original Artwork

Kurosawa Rainbow #3

Kurosawa Rainbow   黒澤レインボー

#3

Unit 3   3号機

JA8063	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1996-03
JA8029	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1997-05

In 1995 Japanese Domestic carrier JAS teamed up with Akira Kurosawa, one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. The director of Seven Samourai was also a designer and he created 7 different designs for JAS with the original themes being “Japanese morning” and “7 rainbow colors over the skies of Japan”. The schemes were strictly symetrical and adorned all 16 brand new MD90 of the airline. The first seven aircraft became the "Seven Samourai" while from the 8th delivery, aircraft would again wear the first design and so on, becoming some kind of Shadow Warriors (the name of another Kurosawa movie).

Although already on the Japanese register by October 1995, problems with the electrical system meant JA8063 was stored in the Arizona desert before paint and did not arrive in Japan before May 1996.

Image  ©  Gambardier (ITM)
Tags   Original Artwork

Kurosawa Rainbow #2

Kurosawa Rainbow   黒澤レインボー

#2

Unit 2   2号機

JA8065	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1996-05
JA8020	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1997-05
JA006D	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1998-06

In 1995 Japanese Domestic carrier JAS teamed up with Akira Kurosawa, one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. The director of Seven Samourai was also a designer and he created 7 different designs for JAS with the original themes being “Japanese morning” and “7 rainbow colors over the skies of Japan”. The schemes were strictly symetrical and adorned all 16 brand new MD90 of the airline. The first seven aircraft became the "Seven Samourai" while from the 8th delivery, aircraft would again wear the first design and so on, becoming some kind of Shadow Warriors (the name of another Kurosawa movie).

This second scheme had the specificity to show the author’s signature.

Image  ©  Gambardier (TAK)
Tags   Original Artwork

Kurosawa Rainbow #1

Kurosawa Rainbow   黒澤レインボー

#1

Unit 1   1号機

JA8064	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1995-05
JA8004	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1997-04
JA005D	MD-90	JAS » JAL Domestic		1998-03

In 1995 Japanese Domestic carrier JAS teamed up with Akira Kurosawa, one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. The director of Seven Samourai was also a designer and he created 7 different designs for JAS with the original themes being “Japanese morning” and “7 rainbow colors over the skies of Japan”. The schemes were strictly symetrical and adorned all 16 brand new MD90 of the airline. The first seven aircraft became the "Seven Samourai" while from the 8th delivery, aircraft would again wear the first design and so on, becoming some kind of Shadow Warriors (the name of another Kurosawa movie).

Although this aircraft was rigorously the third registered with the airline (on December 19, 1995), it was the first to arrive at Haneda on January 9, 1996. Note the JAS titles were really mirrored on the starboard side, resulting in letters being in the wrong direction! Kurosawa died shortly after in 1998 and in honour of the artist, people asked for the aircraft to retain the liveries after the JAL-JAS merger, however for corporate image reasons, all aircraft finally got repainted in JAL's Arc of the Sun livery in the mid-2000s.

Images  ©  Gambardier (ITM & OKJ)
Tags   Original Artwork

Peter Pan Flight

Peter Pan Flight   ピーターパンフライト

JA8551

DC-10-30

JAS

1995-97

The Peter Pan Flights were the result of a collaboration between JAS and tour operator Kinki Nippon Tourist to support fund raising for the Tokyo branch of the Peter Pan Children's Fund. Princess Diana was also involved in the charity.

Fund raising flights were operated on international services linking Japan with destinations including Honolulu, Brisbane and Denpasar/Bali, with the first service taking place on September 2, 1995.

Image  ©  Gambardier (FUK)
Tags   Cartoon & Anime, Charity, Disney