Japan Ups the Drone Regulation Game with New Rules

While the FAA may be taking a slower approach to drone rule-making after the agency missed a deadline last week to offer up nationwide drone regulations, Japan is taking the lead, amending its list of UAV “do’s and don’t’s.”

According to the Japan Times, officials amended the Civil Aeronautics Act recently, offering up a list of new rules including a ban on drone flights over dense residential areas and airports without the permission of the ministry of transportation. The need for a sane review of Japan’s air regulations came to a head this past spring after a lightly radioactive drone was found on the roof of the Prime Minister’s office in Tokyo.

Japanese drone advocates say that, while the new regulations seem to be fair, UAV enthusiasts should stay vigilant to ensure tougher rules do not emerge that could kill the nation’s growing drone commercial sector.

“The aerial space up to 150 meters high, where airplanes are barred, has not been fully utilized, and drones can open a lot of opportunities,” Tomoyuki Kumada, secretary-general of the Japan UAS Industrial Development Association, told the Times.

“Rules need to be worked out for crashes, but we hope free use will be protected as much as possible,” Kumada said.

“In Japan, thousands of large models are being used to spray agricultural chemicals, while about 20,000 are employed for aerial photography and videography, according to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry. There are more than 200,000 small, toy-type models in use around the country,” the Times reported.

Despite the occasional public black eye instigated by an errant drone pilot, several high-profile UAV projects have already received favorable attention in Japan. In June, the government deployed two camera-mounted drones to inspect the evacuation zone around the Owakudani hot-spring district — an active volcano zone.

The Japanese government also plans to use a drone to survey the interior of reactor buildings at Tokyo Electric Power’s Fukushima No. 1 plant. The UAV will use lasers to detect and avoid obstacles in flight and will be able to land to replace its batteries in the absence of an operator.