Espionage at Ibaraki Airport

Ibaraki Airport happens to share part of its airfield with Hyakuri Air Base of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force. To protect the military base from prying eyes, the airport has installed fogged windows in some places. However, as this video clip from ATV shows, the security measure has been implemented in a laughably stupid manner:

There is a sizable gap in the barrier, through which people can observe the ASDF base. A lot of people can be seen crouching down and looking through the gap, and nobody seems to be stopping them.

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7 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - August 10, 2010 at 5:48 am

Categories: Odd / Strange Tags:

Vonskippy

I thought in Japan, they blurred out the butts and let the airplanes show clear?
name

i’m confused. why are they looking through the gaps when it’s clearly visible through the glass? or is that somekind of camera work
randomcommenter

It’s clear to the front and right, but foggy to the left (special glass that is translucent at certain angles and transparent at others). If you watch the part where the plane takes off, you’ll see that it’s clear until it reaches the left end of the runway, at which point you can’t see it. It isn’t that the glass at the left is fogged, but that ALL the glass is designed to be foggy when looking to the left.
fish taco

Why don’t they just move the airport to another location away from the base?

randomcommenter

The two airports (the JASDF base and the civilian airport) share the same runways. Can’t use the same runway if you’re far apart.

Level3

So pointless “homeland security” that merely inconveniences the general public happens in Japan, too.

It’s not like if there were real spies actually spying on the airbase comings and goings, they would just be renting an apartment in the area with a balcony facing the airfield and logging all the air traffic in and out. That would be just too simple.

Or are local police searching every flat in a 5km radius of the airbase for notebooks and maybe binoculars?

Such silly “security” measures in a basically free country are pointless. Except for bureaucrats tnrich their contractor friends and skim a bit for themselves. That special glass can’t be cheap, or at least not being sold cheap. Plus free advertising from the Japanese media!

Tony D

For some reason Ibaraki seems to be pretty in love with macho “security” measures.

http://www.japanprobe.com/2007/06/10/ibaraki-police-poster-stop-foreigners-at-the-shores/

Espionage at Ibaraki Airport

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