so im heading to tokyo and kyoto in a few weeks and obviously bringing the mavic. ive been reading about the rules there and honestly its kind of stressing me out. from what i can tell you basically need permits for almost everything and flying near populated areas is pretty much a no-go without jumping through a bunch of hoops. anyone actually flown there recently? like what was your actual experience vs what the rules say on paper

i mostly want to get some landscape stuff around arashiyama and maybe some coastal shots if we head south. not trying to fly over people or anything sketchy, just nature scenery type shots

went last spring and yeah it was tricky. the MLIT website is where you register and you need to do it well in advance, like weeks not days. arashiyama specifically was a headache because its a tourist area and there were signs everywhere. i ended up just getting up really early like 5am before crowds showed up and honestly nobody bothered me but i was also being super careful and keeping it low and close

coastal stuff was way more chill, found a beach near izu that was basically empty. just use common sense and dont be obvious about it in crowded spots

pretty sure there's an app called Dronebird or something that shows no fly zones for japan, might be worth downloading before you go. i havent been myself but a guy in my local club went last year and said it was fine once he did all the paperwork