While exploring the interior of the terminal at the Satsuma island airport in MSFS2024, I noticed something quite unusual. There is a calendar hanging on the wall that features images of a Catholic religious ceremony, clearly showing priests and altar servers in traditional robes performing a local rite. This seems to depict a real-life religious event, which raises the question: is it normal to include images of religious rituals in decorative elements within public facilities like airport terminals in Japan, especially in a simulator context?
Has anyone else noticed similar details at other airports in the sim? I’m interested to know if this is a common practice in regional Japanese airports, or if it’s just a unique touch in Satsuma. Any insights from local residents or those familiar with Japanese culture would be appreciated!
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I’ll be keeping an interested eye open now - amazing!
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Here is the actual calendar the airport which shows Japanese priests at some kind of shrine.
It’s possible the image was swapped for the sake of not being able to find the original in higher quality, or it’s the work of AI recreating the image in a strange way.
Either way, kudos to the devs for recreating the interior down to the placement of the poster and the calendar, but a weird substitution indeed as there is no significant Catholic/Orthodox history in that area of Japan.
(Link to full original image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Satsumaiohujima.airports3.jpg)
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I worry that the Japanese might be offended by that substitution of a Catholic themed pic. I feel the calendar is a nice touch but they could have been a little more sensitive to this.
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It’s actually wild they got these details, like the door colour and triangle windows, in there. But yes, swapping in a Catholic rite feels kinda wrong.
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Of course, it could just be that that particular calendar shows religious events from around the world and Gaya, or whoever made it, based it on a photo from another month….
For me, the change in the photo seems to be more related to AI. If you look closely, a similar person praying appears both in the original photo and in the simulator’s scenery photo. As explained in https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/world-update-20-japan-satsuma-island/740078/4?u=superyogurtu, it could be because the original photo didn’t have the necessary quality and was replaced by an AI-generated version, trying to preserve the religious context.
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