As two planes crashed in a whirlwind of fire, hundreds of people became stranded in Haneda airport in Tokyo and disarray ensued.  

On January 2nd, a Japan airlines passenger plane collided with a Japanese coast guard plane that was at airport to deliver earthquake relief. All 379 people on the passenger plane slid down emergency chutes and survived, but five crew members were killed on the coast guard plane.  

More than 100 fire trucks were sent out after the blaze broke out. The fire wasn’t extinguished for six hours.  

When the incident happened, all the runways closed. 140 flights were canceled the next day, and the airport erupted into chaos and confusion and some Webb students returning from break were trapped. 

“At first, people were really calm, but when people realized that their flights [were] canceled, they started to get really anxious,” Zona Zhou (‘26) said “They started arguing with flight agents. There’s this person who started speaking Chinese and started yelling at a Japanese flight agent.” 

The experience was even more frustrating for people who were going to the Haneda Airport but did not get there, as they missed all their connecting flights. 

“We had to get a temporary visa for transit and booked a hotel near the airport for the night,” Jerry Hu (‘26) said. “I also had to book another flight myself that cost $1500 dollars more. American Airlines did not compensate for the extra costs, nor did they provide hotels for overnight stays.” 

Though Webbies and others had a tough day at the airport, some also found a rare moment of solidarity. 

“I met this Chinese [woman] who spoke Shanghainese, and apparently she was on the same flight as me,” Zona said. “She got herself switch the other flight that was not canceled and taught me how to do it, which is how I got my situation resolved. I found Chinese solidarity in a Japanese airport.”