Category: Drone

With the increase in need for aerial footage in various industries, drones are becoming an indispensable tool for a lot of photographers and videographers. Here are some things to consider when looking to shoot footage with drones.

There have been quite a lot of accidents and incidents involving drones in Japan – in 2015, someone dropped a Phantom 2 laced with radioactive dirt on top of the Prime Minister’s residence. Because of that, a whole lot of regulations and laws were passed to enforce drone usage in Japan. In order to fly without permission, these requirements have to be met:

1) Drone weighs less that 200g (about 7 ounces)
2) Drone will fly no higher than 150m (about 490 feet) from the ground (will get into in another post)
3) Drone will not fly within protected airspace (airport, helipad, certain gov’t properties)
4) Drone must not fly within DID (Densely Inhabited District)

So for example, the Tello, since it only weighs 80g (2.8oz), can be flown as long as they meet requirements 2 and 3. Whereas the DJI Spark can’t be flown unless they meet this additional requirement:

Where is this DID area? It can be found on this map, but you’ll see something interesting:

The red area is what’s considered DID, and is based on the past year’s census. Almost all of Tokyo’s 23 district is restricted.

In order to fly around Tokyo, you’d need to get out to where it’s not red, and make sure to follow the 4 requirements outline above.

But obviously, these aren’t the only laws you need to follow – which I might go over in another post.