TAKIKAWA, Hokkaido -- The first test flight of a small jet plane modeled after "Mehve," a flying device that appears in Hayao Miyazaki's anime "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind," was conducted here on July 31.

Hundreds of spectators gathered at the Takikawa Skypark in Takikawa, Hokkaido, to view the test flight.

One of them said, "Beautiful," while another expressed surprise saying, "That's really flying."

Mehve (or Moewe) is a German word meaning "gull."