NH 1435 NGO-ISG B737-500 seat 14A
Until last year this would still have been a EL-branded Air Nippon Koku (ANK) flight, but after the reincorporation of the ANK brand into mothership ANA, even the plane had been repainted in ANA colors with only a small black "AIR NIPPON" on the fuselage and a 1xxx flight number left to show the heritage.
The -500 is one of the smaller models in the 737 family with capacity for around 120, and today's flight was perhaps 60-70% full. I scored a window seat near the wing with nobody in the seats next to me, and seat pitch was, if not exactly generous, surprisingly acceptable. The plane departed on time and drink service started, with tea and juice on offer for free and beer and shochu for sale. No food available though, so like everybody else I dug into the food I brought along myself, and found out that Nagoya's famed tenmusubi (rice balls with shrimp tempura inside) really are quite good.
2.5 hours passed by quickly and soon enough we did a smooth if hard-braking landing at ISG, a pint-sized airport where they still take the trouble to bus you the 50 meters from the jet to the terminal. The island has been undergoing a bit of tourism boom lately and there are plans afoot for a new ISG that could handle larger jets like the 747s that shuttle between Japan's major cities. My priority-tagged bag was the first off the conveyor belt -- they even intentionally left a 5-meter space between it and the rest -- and in no time at all I hopped out the door and into a taxi to Rakutenya ("Paradise Shop"), my Y3000-a-night guesthouse lodgings offering eccentric owners, wacky background music and free broadband Internet in a big wooden house.