Matsuura River Auxiliary Airfield

The closure resulted from a combination of factors: 1) Increased safety concerns and regulatory scrutiny, particularly following a fatal ultralight aircraft crash at the site in April 2001. 2) Stricter land use management by the river authority (a branch of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) which controls Japan's riverbeds. 3) The official redevelopment of the site by Karatsu City into a public sports park, which is incompatible with aviation activities.

The site has been completely redeveloped and is now the 'Karatsu City Matsuura River Kasenjiki Sports Square' (唐津市松浦川河川敷スポーツ広場). The area contains multiple baseball diamonds, soccer pitches, and open green space for public recreation. The long, straight layout of the former grass/dirt runway is still vaguely discernible within the park's layout, but there is no remaining aviation infrastructure such as hangars, markings, or a windsock.

The site was never a formal, government-certified airport. It was an unofficial off-airport landing and takeoff site, known in Japan as a 'Jōgai Rikuchakurikujō' (場外離着陸場), located on the Matsuura River's flood plain (kasenjiki). Its significance was entirely local, serving as a popular base for private recreational flying from roughly the 1990s through the early 2010s. Operations were primarily conducted by local aviation enthusiasts and clubs using ultralight aircraft (ULPs), motor gliders, and other light general aviation planes. It had no known scheduled commercial, cargo, or military role. The ICAO code 'JP-1374' is a non-standard identifier used by third-party aviation databases and communities, not an official code assigned by the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the airfield. The land has been permanently repurposed for public recreational use. Re-establishing aviation activities would be incompatible with its current function as a busy city sports park and would face insurmountable regulatory hurdles from both the city and the national river authority.