Fratemate
Great update to say the least.
I admire your optimism that certain pressures may make ANA have to up the ante in some areas - however logic (and history) indicates that when the T&C's in the airline game go down....they don't bounce back.
The game in Nihongo-land has changed hugely in the last 12-18 months, it's not that the airlines here have got their sh*t together or anything like that - just that JAL finally acknowledging the bleeding obvious means finally a supply of experienced, qualified pilots (any questions of their professionalism, ability or "concept of a big picture" etc etc is a very separate topic altogether) has changed the gaijin landscape for all airlines in Japan.
To finish on a funny - Skymark and A380's ???
And some say the Japanese have no sense of humour!
Cheers
galdian