Okay, it looks a biiit like an elephant
Today we're doing a little Tanegashima tour. The island is beautiful, but it's also agricultural.
During the rocket launches a part of the island
becomes a "no entry" zone. But there are many points from where
observers can see the space port.
One such spot, and incidentally the
southernmost point of our journey, is Cape Kadokura. This is the spot
where Europeans (Portuguese) made the contact with Japanese people, and
introduced guns to the country in 1543.
Compare: the same location in Robotics;Notes.
Note that there is a torii gate on the right. The whole cape is shrine grounds (though there's one more gate after this one).
Torii gate, by the way, are called 鳥居 "where birds are". No one really knows why, but perhaps they really were meant to be for the birds.
Note that there is a torii gate on the right. The whole cape is shrine grounds (though there's one more gate after this one).
Torii gate, by the way, are called 鳥居 "where birds are". No one really knows why, but perhaps they really were meant to be for the birds.
It's possible to avoid the torii if you don't want to go through them :)
The cape has a playground and a couple gazebos.
The railings weren't really sturdy in the anime...
These days there's a new set of railings, made of concrete, so you can't reach the old week wooden railings anymore
The camera doesn't really help to understand this, but trust me: you can easily see the spaceport from here.
The shrine of the area has the enshrined
objects on the display, so the photo tries to avoid showing them.
There's a fortune selling vending machine!
You can't really tell it's the same shrine in this shot, but you have to believe me
There's a ceremonial "bell of happiness" but it's not very important
During our visit, matchlock gun enthusiasts
were readying their guns. They even made a few shots! You gotta come and
see it in person, it's quite spectacular and loud.
An elementary school nearby keeps Inge niwatori, a special breed of chicken that has no tails.
It is special for two reasons: they were introduced to the island by English people (called "Inge" back then) after an English ship crashed next to the island, and they allegedly went extinct in their home country (which was China). They're designated an island treasure and can't be eaten.
The photo is from the internets though.
It is special for two reasons: they were introduced to the island by English people (called "Inge" back then) after an English ship crashed next to the island, and they allegedly went extinct in their home country (which was China). They're designated an island treasure and can't be eaten.
The photo is from the internets though.
Our next location is yet another spot from which rocket launches can be seen. It's a park called Uchugaoka ("Space Hill").
This is the tracking station
And this is the space port as seen from the observation deck
There's also a mysterious weather (?) station nearby...
As well as a model of the rocket and a memorial
to a tanka poem about the rocket launch that emperor Akihito read from
this spot a long long time ago
Kind of cool~
This is the weather (?) tower as seen in the game.
By the way, last year there was a Robotics Notes stamp rally here!
By the way, last year there was a Robotics Notes stamp rally here!
One of the biggest attractions on Tanegashima
is located at Hamada beach. The beach itself is very cool, popular with
surfers, etc etc
There's a cafe outside that sells baked sweet potato; we only had a mango juice there
It's a cave entrance! In fact, there are
multiple cave entrances. The cave, called Chikura ("one thousand can
sit"), is created by the sea itself. It can only be accessed for a
couple of hours every day, in low tide.
The cave system is sizeable. The main part of the cave, the one where "one thousand can sit", has a very fitting name.
i-Shop Nagai, also known as "Irei shop" in Robotics Notes. It has been featured in "5 centimeters per second" and even got a cameo in "Your Name".
There's a Skal poster with Akiho from Robotics Notes! It's pretty old, but then it's been 13 years since the show.
The Skal from the shop was tasty! They also stock chocolate and strawberry Pocky.
The Skal from the shop was tasty! They also stock chocolate and strawberry Pocky.
This bench is not there anymore, though. It seems the shop has moved the bench to its other branch.
The shop is right across the road from
Tanegashima Chuo High School. We've been told it's totally okay to go in
and take more photos, but we decided not to bother the students and the
staff.
Our next spot is much less known, and wasn't
featured in an anime. The road to the beach is a scary serpentine
winding through the mangroves.
Matateno cave. The entrance is closed, danger of falling rocks. The ceiling is probably a few stories tall.
The name of the cave means "Waiting horse". According to a legend, the lord of the island once went into the cave for training, and went missing. Only his horse was waiting for him outside.
The name of the cave means "Waiting horse". According to a legend, the lord of the island once went into the cave for training, and went missing. Only his horse was waiting for him outside.
It also looks a bit like an elephant or some other creature.
The last anime spot for today is Otatsu-Metatsu Rocks (Male Dragon rock on the right, Female Dragon on the left).
The legend is that a husband and wife perished in the sea and were reincarnated as stones.
The legend is that a husband and wife perished in the sea and were reincarnated as stones.
There's a shinto rope that connects them together, beautiful.
The spot as seen in the Robotics;Notes game.
If you now want to visit Tanegashima, but don't have a possibility, get the Robotics;Notes game, and it will let you to travel across the island on a tiny scooter. Unfortunately, it will make you want to visit Tanegashima even more.
If you now want to visit Tanegashima, but don't have a possibility, get the Robotics;Notes game, and it will let you to travel across the island on a tiny scooter. Unfortunately, it will make you want to visit Tanegashima even more.
Our tour isn't over yet, though! There is a Gun Museum in the only island's city - and it's much more than just a Gun Museum
The museum itself looks like a Portuguese ship.
The museum is pretty large, but there were
almost no visitors today. The bored staff asked whether we wanted to
take photos with the matchlock guns, but we politely refused.
It's kind of nice but also kind of a shame that there are very few tourists on Tanegashima. The place deserves more love.
It's kind of nice but also kind of a shame that there are very few tourists on Tanegashima. The place deserves more love.
The island used to have "cow-horses". Despite being protected species, they all died out 50 years ago.
However, mage-shika, a species of deer, is
still thriving on a small island next to Tanegashima called Mageshima.
Things went really good for these deer when Mageshima became uninhabited
in 1970s.
Tanegashima itself has its own species of deer.
Actually, wait, the previous photo is Tanegashima deer, and this photo
is mage-shika!
You can also see some whale bones: the area used to engage in whale hunting 200 years ago.
You can also see some whale bones: the area used to engage in whale hunting 200 years ago.
Someone had found mammoth bones on the island.
It is one of the proofs that hundreds of thousand years ago the island
was connected to the continent.
Apparently it's easy to find fossils around here.
Another animal related curiosity: Tanegashima
is home for some rare butterflies or something, so there's a lot of
attention to the butterflies. And that leads to interesting discoveries.
You see, if you catch a butterfly, you can sign it with a special code and let it go. The code needs to be registered with the butterfly tracking society or something like that, and then if someone finds your butterfly, it will be possible to tell how far it travelled. The island has multiple record flying butterflies: one 650 kilometres and one 1100 kilometres. Unbelievable!
You see, if you catch a butterfly, you can sign it with a special code and let it go. The code needs to be registered with the butterfly tracking society or something like that, and then if someone finds your butterfly, it will be possible to tell how far it travelled. The island has multiple record flying butterflies: one 650 kilometres and one 1100 kilometres. Unbelievable!
Another natural curiosity is this species of pine, unique to the island. It's really, really, really huge.
This pine used to be very important for the
island, because it was possible to make canoe out of it. And not just
some lame narrow canoe, a lovely boat! From a single tree.
The museum has multiple life-sized animatronic
models, they're pretty cool. The models are used to show the lives of
regular people on the island long long time ago
For example, blacksmiths. The island is rich in
iron sands, so there were (and still are) some swordmakers. More
practically, the blacksmiths here were really proficient in making
scissors.
Historically, Japan used to have very simple scissors, similar to spring scissors, but the same ship that brought guns to Tanegashima has also brought Chinese scissors that are very similar to modern ones. Tanegashima took a special spin on those, and started to make modern-looking scissors using techniques previously used for making katanas. The new style scissors got the name tane-basami, "Tanegashima scissors". Now most people call them just "scissors". There are still two factories that make tane-basami.
Historically, Japan used to have very simple scissors, similar to spring scissors, but the same ship that brought guns to Tanegashima has also brought Chinese scissors that are very similar to modern ones. Tanegashima took a special spin on those, and started to make modern-looking scissors using techniques previously used for making katanas. The new style scissors got the name tane-basami, "Tanegashima scissors". Now most people call them just "scissors". There are still two factories that make tane-basami.
Hand-drilling a half of scissors (a scissor???)
The life of farmers and fishermen of the eras long gone. Kind of cool.
The stove. Curiously, this kind of rice cookers (on the right) is still in use sometimes!
Farming tools look a bit alien. Maybe that's because rice farming is different from regular farming
Finally, the main exhibition: Tanegashima guns. This is a laboratory for making gunpowder
Turns out, samurai used all sorts of guns, including very large guns that could launch rockets!
The Triforce pattern is actually the crest of
the lords of the islands. They bought the secret of the gun making from
Portuguese and started making their own guns.
This might be the oldest Japanese gun!
The story goes like this: the lord of Tanegashima bought two guns from Portuguese, but both guns were lost in house fires (a lot can happen in 400 years, okay?). But he started the manufacture of the guns shortly after the purchase was done. The family of the lord kept this gun for multiple centuries, until it was given to emperor Meiji, and then eventually ended up in this museum. The gun seems to be a very close copy of the imported Portuguese one, but has a Japanese pattern on its inlay. The construction hints that it was likely made in the 16th century
The story goes like this: the lord of Tanegashima bought two guns from Portuguese, but both guns were lost in house fires (a lot can happen in 400 years, okay?). But he started the manufacture of the guns shortly after the purchase was done. The family of the lord kept this gun for multiple centuries, until it was given to emperor Meiji, and then eventually ended up in this museum. The gun seems to be a very close copy of the imported Portuguese one, but has a Japanese pattern on its inlay. The construction hints that it was likely made in the 16th century
Cultural note: it's customary in Japan to have a
bath after the day. But to save the water (and for historical reasons),
the bath water is shared between the family members. To keep the water
clean, it's important to shower before entering the bathtub. Hence, in
Japanese houses the shower is usually not combined with the bath tub.
This is the first hotel for us where this separation is obvious.