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Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is selling his private jet because it’s old, gives a tour

Dale Roll Dec 23, 2019
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Fashion mogul’s stylish plane, with a Japanese washlet toilet and karaoke machine, could be yours…if you’re also super rich.

Rich people have it rough. When they’re not living in luxury hotel penthouse suites or hiring fake girlfriends for hundreds of thousands of dollars, they have a hard time finding ways to spend all of their money. What does one do with the millions or billions of dollars?

Yusaku Maezawa, Japanese billionaire and founder of the massively successful online fashion retailer Zozotown, doesn’t really seem to have that problem; he’s a collector of art, which he hopes to share with the world in a museum, and has even bought one of the world’s most expensive violins so that it can grace the ears of people around the world. In fact, he’s so generous that he’s happy to just give away his money to random Twitter users, although he does use some of his money on himself. He did, after all, buy his own private jet, which he says has really been quite a practical purchase. How do we know? He made a YouTube video telling us all about it.

At the start of the video, Maezawa, sitting in his very luxurious-looking chauffeured car as it takes him to Narita Airport, explains that he’s going to Australia, and decided to do a tour of his private jet while he’s there, since that was what his YouTube subscribers requested most. As they’re driving, he says that since he bought the plane four years ago he hasn’t ridden any commercial airlines, and he flies about twice a month, so he’s actually made good use of it.

After proceeding through the gate at the private terminal for jet owners, he gets on a private bus that will take him to the hangar where his plane awaits. The bus drives along the runway, behind the commercial planes, where we get a view of the terminal where normal folk are probably waiting for their crowded flights. “Not many people get to see this sight,” he remarks, and then marvels at how cool the planes look from behind.

Finally we get our first view of his private jet, which looks sleek with its all-black body, two blue stripes, and silver wings. The crew is waiting near the airstairs, and as the bus approaches, they line up on either side and bow low. Leading up to the airstairs is a lavish red carpet, suitable for a billionaire.

When we enter the plane, he first gives us a tour of the cockpit. He shows where the captain and co-captain sit, and explains that he always has both on every flight. However, he says the electric cockpit is almost entirely automatic, and only needs to be operated during take-off and landing.

Following, he shows us the galley where the cabin attendant prepares drinks and food for him and his guests. Maezawa likes wine, so he had a special cabinet and shelf built to safely store his wine glasses, and even has a small wine fridge. The interior is a beautiful dark brown color, like wood, but shiny, as if it were made of wood and covered with glass. It’s very expensive-looking.

Through the door at the end of the galley is the cabin were Maezawa spends his flights. There are four large, clean, luxurious, white leather seats arranged independently of each other, and then five of the same seats around two tables, where passengers can talk, eat, and do business. Maezawa likes to sit at the four-seater table, because he prefers to sit with his guests when he flies. There is also bowl of cheap Japanese snacks, which are Maezawa’s favorites, on one of the tables. The video company captioned it as “Feels out-of-place”. It certainly does!

But that’s not all; there’s another room with more seats: two private seats and a three-seater bench. That means that this plane can seat up to 14 people, but Maezawa says that he’s never had that many people on his plane, because he likes to pull the bench out into a bed and sleep on it during long flights.

At the end of that room is the restroom, where there’s a quality washlet toilet installed, a gold-tinted metal sink, and a closet with hangers. Beyond that is the storage for suitcases. After introducing them, Maezawa explained that he can operate a lot of the features of the plane with his iPod, such as the shutters on the windows and the lighting in the cabin. And of course, we can’t forget the most important feature of the plane: the on-board karaoke machine!

▼ Maezawa says that he once flew with Yoshiki from X-Japan, and they sat in this red light for the entire flight drinking wine together.

That concluded the tour, but Maezawa had one more thing to share: he’s selling his “old” plane at the end of next year, and getting a brand new one, which he promises he will also give a tour of when it arrives. So if you’re interested in buying his “outdated” private jet, with its custom wine shelves, pull out sofa bed, and washlet toilet, inquire at the e-mail included in the video description box. As Maezawa explained earlier in the video, everything is faster and simpler with a private jet, from check-in and security to immigration and customs. Even the flight time is faster, so he assures us it’s well worth the investment, even if it is “old”!

But if you’re a common plebeian like the rest of us and you can’t even dream of flying first class, never mind in a private jet, then perhaps we can recommend this “Fly first class” virtual reality restaurant in Tokyo. Maybe we can’t actually be rich, but we can at least pretend!

Source, Images: YouTube/Yusaku Maezawa
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