This anime mascot is a coin purse...
Today we're taking a ferry from Kanegashima to
an island of Tanegashima. You can see Sakurajima Volcano on the
background. The ferry operates hydrofoil ships to Tanegashima and
Yakushima; a journey usually takes an hour and a half.
Today's forecast was heavy rain and wind, but we dodged it. The mainland was hit with the typhoon-like weather instead!
Today's forecast was heavy rain and wind, but we dodged it. The mainland was hit with the typhoon-like weather instead!
The ship can carry about 200 passengers over two decks.
It looks a lot like a plane inside :)
Welcome to Tanegashima, says the sign.
Tanegashima ("karma seed island", originally "island of many shrines")
is a large-ish island, not quite a part of Okinawa, but not quite
mainland Japan either. Note that mainland Japan is still four large
islands!
Tanegashima is roughly as big as Lake Biwa next to Kyoto: maybe 50 by 7-10 kilometres.
A large-ish island close to China, it was the Japanese window to Europe, with European guns and European culture first introduced here around 16th century.
The island's population is about 28,000 people. There is one city and two towns, but no one bothered to name them, so they're called Nishinoomote ("Western front side of the island", this is where the passenger port is), Nakatane ("Central Tanegashima") and Minamitane ("Southern Tanegashima").
As you can imagine, it isn't a very popular destination. Everyone goes to a wild island of Yakushima nearby, it has monkeys.
If only they knew what they're missing...
Tanegashima is roughly as big as Lake Biwa next to Kyoto: maybe 50 by 7-10 kilometres.
A large-ish island close to China, it was the Japanese window to Europe, with European guns and European culture first introduced here around 16th century.
The island's population is about 28,000 people. There is one city and two towns, but no one bothered to name them, so they're called Nishinoomote ("Western front side of the island", this is where the passenger port is), Nakatane ("Central Tanegashima") and Minamitane ("Southern Tanegashima").
As you can imagine, it isn't a very popular destination. Everyone goes to a wild island of Yakushima nearby, it has monkeys.
If only they knew what they're missing...
Tanegashima is overgrown with mangrove forests,
and there are hikes and even canoeing routes through them. There are
skilled craftsmen making knives and scissors, so skilled that serious
bonsai makers always choose Tanegashima blades. There's popular local
food: super-sweet sweet potatoes, red rice, sparkling diary drink Skal
(you've seen it in this blog!)
There are: museum of matchlock guns (called "Tanegashima" in Japan), Red Rice museum, archaeology museum, and two local history museums (recently popular due to some period drama about the area).
There are many places of natural beauty that gained cultural value over the centuries. Beaches around are great for surfing and probably aren't too bad for swimming either.
But that's not the main attraction...
There are: museum of matchlock guns (called "Tanegashima" in Japan), Red Rice museum, archaeology museum, and two local history museums (recently popular due to some period drama about the area).
There are many places of natural beauty that gained cultural value over the centuries. Beaches around are great for surfing and probably aren't too bad for swimming either.
But that's not the main attraction...
TaNegashima Space Center, the most beautiful
space port in the world. The most important space port in Japan, and
such a romantic place that multiple anime shows use it as a setting: "5
centimetres per second", "Robotics;Notes" and "Space Brothers". It also
gets a honorary mention in "Your name"
The museum at the space centre is great! It
offers you a view of multiple real artifacts of enormous sizes, as well
as a bus tour around the space port.
The rockets are huge, they might not look grandiose on the photos, but they're really big.
There are two full size rockets (models?) that
can be touched by the commoners. The rocket garage and hangar might have
more. The center not just launches the rockets, it also assembles them
AND the satellites that go inside the rockets on the launch.
There are engineering versions of a couple of satellites on display. A human being for scale!
There are massive rocket engines...
And even more massive rocket engines. This is the first stage engine of H-II, and the previous one is the second stage engine.
It is rocket science! (A turbine for fuel)
The H-II ("ecchi-tsu") rocket is being retired,
its final launch will happen in June. After that, it'll be all new H3
("ecchi-tsurii"). Japanese rockets have a long lineage.
The problem with space is that it's really difficult to convey the sizes or the distances.
But the feel of space is there~
But the feel of space is there~
This is a special car called Dolly. It is a
"launch vehicle" that carries rockets from hangars to their destination.
It has 56 individually controlled/rotatable wheels, and can do a crab
walk. Fully loaded, two Dollies can carry one rocket at 2 km/h.
Photo from JAXA, Dollies are marked with the arrows
Photo from JAXA
There are two launch sites, each has two
towers. The towers are apparently used as lightning rods; you don't want
your full-of-liquid-hydrogen rocket to explode on the site.
There's a meteo tower on the left, and a huge
hangar between the meteo tower and the launch site. The hangar is used
to assembly the rockets, and it has the largest sliding doors in the
world: each is 67.5 meters tall, 27 meters wide, and 2.5 meters thick.
Compare with anime :)
Photo from JAXA.
The assembly center was closed for visitors, a new rocket is being assembled/tested/something like that.
The assembly center was closed for visitors, a new rocket is being assembled/tested/something like that.
The garage is currently used to display a
partially assembled H-II - it's second stage on the right, and the front
hull behind it.
No giant AR robots in the garage this time. Maybe it was in the next one over *chuckles*
This thing is enormous, bigger than a truck, and it's not even 20% of the rocket.
The last part of the field trip was the control
center. It is smaller than most people (me including) imagine, and it's
somewhat busy even when there are no launches. It is used to track
re-entrance of space debris and such.
Photos were not allowed, so here is one from JAXA themselves. Nowadays the PCs have Windows 10 wallpapers, by the way
Photos were not allowed, so here is one from JAXA themselves. Nowadays the PCs have Windows 10 wallpapers, by the way
Tanegashima is huge in size, but low in
population density. There is a bus, but it's not very useful for
tourists, and besides most people drive, including high schoolers.
We, car-less, had no choice but to take a taxi to the space port - and it took one hour (about £65, if you're curious). We've seen lots of iconic places, including Otatsu-Metatsu rocks and Nakatane general shop, but the weather was bad, so we didn't ask to stop and take a photo. Hopefully tomorrow the weather is going to be nicer, and we'll be able to have a little beauty spot tour.
After the tour we had to walk to our hotel - thankfully, it is just a 15 minute walk from the space centre. And on arrival there we realised something scary...
We, car-less, had no choice but to take a taxi to the space port - and it took one hour (about £65, if you're curious). We've seen lots of iconic places, including Otatsu-Metatsu rocks and Nakatane general shop, but the weather was bad, so we didn't ask to stop and take a photo. Hopefully tomorrow the weather is going to be nicer, and we'll be able to have a little beauty spot tour.
After the tour we had to walk to our hotel - thankfully, it is just a 15 minute walk from the space centre. And on arrival there we realised something scary...
We didn't have enough cash on us to pay for a
little private tour around the island. And the ATMs on the island close
at 5pm, and open only on Monday. And it was 4:40pm!
We panicked a little bit (though not too much; we had enough cash for a direct-to-ferry taxi, worst case scenario we could catch a bus there or hitchhike), and asked the hotel staff whether we can use the hotel's cycles. (yes, there are hotel cycles)
The staff got worried! It was quite windy outside, after all. And before we realised, one of the staff got a car and drove us to the Japan Post office (which is the closest ATM location). So, we got our cash 5 minutes before the closing time!
Also, the hotel is kind of cool. I wish the weather was good enough for swimming, though...
We panicked a little bit (though not too much; we had enough cash for a direct-to-ferry taxi, worst case scenario we could catch a bus there or hitchhike), and asked the hotel staff whether we can use the hotel's cycles. (yes, there are hotel cycles)
The staff got worried! It was quite windy outside, after all. And before we realised, one of the staff got a car and drove us to the Japan Post office (which is the closest ATM location). So, we got our cash 5 minutes before the closing time!
Also, the hotel is kind of cool. I wish the weather was good enough for swimming, though...
One curious thing! A rock nearby our hotel is called The Elephant Rock 🐘 but everyone is like "you need a lot of imagination for that"
(Photo from the internet)
(Photo from the internet)
However, you need to look at the rock from the hotel side! (Also photo from the internet, it's too late today)
Tanegashima has its own gelato brand, Space Gelato, that allows you to try the taste of Uranus (it supposed to taste like 🍐)