I went looking for information on the new Starred Airports and found very little.  In the text for World Update 1 - Japan is one sentence that names the six "exquisitely hand-crafted" airports along with six HD 3D photogrammetry prominent Japanese cities. see box. 

The new airports are spread out rather nicely.  The straight line distance between two of the island airports, RJTH, Hachijojima and RORS, Shimojishima is more than a thousand miles and the Northern most airport of Kushiro, RJCK, is a thousand miles from the Nagasaki man-made island airport. RJFU.  Interesting choices, but, well worth the price - they are all free.

My favorite is the small out of the way island airport of Suwanosejima, a 2,700 foot strip, RJX8, at the tip of the Suwanose island overlooking a small work dock that is very well outfitted with boats and such. Nice and quiet with some greenery and a few additions.  Swanose Island is one of the Tokara Islands in the Ryukyu Chain. This one belongs to the Japan Meteorological Agency with ties to the Smithsonian Institution. Population 48. Nine hour boat ride to the mainland so it is off the beaten path a bit.  Lots of history of eruptions and remains one of the most active volcanic islands in the world so I am going to limit my stay to time for a local cup of coffee and I will be back in the air. (I can't stand the thought of our Mooney covered in Lava).

Regards,

Ray

 

Looks like a fun place to land!  I have a few spots I want to fly around the Japanese islands too.

Anyway, as for Japan, I was impressed with what they did re: mesh and rocky coast areas as in your screenshot.  There are still a lot of the typical photoscenery issues, but still it's neat.  This Japan treatment reminds me of the Japan Scenery Disk I had for FS2.  I used to fly out of places like Matsumoto and Komatsu back in '87 or '88.  Obviously its visually a mile better than that was but I got the same vibe from that old scenery disk.

It's also neat how they use what I believe to be British English terms like "bespoke".  I've never heard that word used until recently.  I had to look it up to know what they meant.

I was introduced to the bespoke description by a friend in England that was fine tuning some airport runways for another sim. Of course, he never knew there was any other adjective to replace bespoke so he learned something too.  He asked if I was wearing a Savile Row bespoke suit. I answered with no, it is a Harts Schaffner Marx.  He had never heard of the brand.  Small world.