Shionomisaki (Isade) Airfield

Economic reasons and redundancy. The airfield was too small and ill-equipped to handle significant commercial traffic. After the war, it was only used for limited general aviation and sightseeing flights. The opening of Nanki-Shirahama Airport, with its longer runway and superior facilities, consolidated air traffic in the region, rendering Shionomisaki Airfield obsolete.

The former airfield site is now primarily occupied by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Shionomisaki Tracking and Communications Station (潮岬追跡所). This critical facility, established on the flat, open land of the old airfield, uses large parabolic antennas to track and communicate with satellites and rockets launched from Japanese spaceports. Remnants of the original runway and some taxiways are still visible on satellite imagery, with sections repurposed as access roads for the JAXA station or covered by solar panel arrays and vegetation.

The airfield was originally constructed during World War II (circa 1943-1944) as a military airbase for the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, known as the Kushimoto Naval Air Group (串本海軍航空隊) or Shionomisaki Air Base (潮岬航空基地). Its strategic location at the southernmost point of Japan's main island, Honshu, made it vital for conducting anti-submarine patrols and reconnaissance missions to protect the Kii Channel, a key shipping route to major cities like Osaka and Nagoya. After Japan's surrender, the base was decommissioned and later saw brief, limited use as a civilian airfield before its final closure.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the site as an airfield. The land is currently occupied by essential national infrastructure for Japan's space program (the JAXA station). Furthermore, the recent development of 'Space Port Kii' in Kushimoto for launching commercial rockets has solidified the area's focus on aerospace and space activities, not on reviving a defunct WWII-era airfield. Regional aviation needs continue to be fully met by Nanki-Shirahama Airport.